Angola striker Manucho is in line to make his Manchester United debut in their Carling Cup clash with Middlesbrough at Old Trafford.
The African spent the latter half of last season on loan in Greece with Panathinaikos but has now received his work permit and recovered from a broken metatarsal, so should start against Gareth Southgate's men.
Anderson and Nani are also expected to be in Sir Alex Ferguson's 20-man squad, while Gary Neville should also get some more match practice, with Cristiano Ronaldo once again expected to be on the bench as he continues to search for top form after his recent ankle operation.
United have got their nightmare run of games out of the way - now the Premier League better watch out according to Wayne Rooney.
Although yesterday's point at Chelsea is the only thing keeping Sir Alex Ferguson's men above the relegation zone, Rooney knows they have a precious match in hand.
And he also realises in Portsmouth, Liverpool and Chelsea, United have already come through arguably the three hardest away games they will face all season.
Which is why the England man is so bullish about what lies ahead for the Old Trafford outfit.
"That was definitely a point gained for us and was an answer to our critics,'' said the 22-year-old.
"As soon as we saw the fixture list we knew it was going to be a tough start to the season.
"We have just had three really hard games, possibly our toughest of all.
"Now we have got them out of the way, hopefully we can go on a run.''
Middlesbrough top scorer Mido is expected miss the game after pulling out of Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Sunderland with a groin strain.
The Egyptian has four goals to his credit already this season but had to withdraw from the Wear-Tees Stadium of Light clash just 20 minutes before kick-off after breaking down in the warm-up.
With Tuncay Sanli (knee) sidelined for at least another month, manager Gareth Southgate has his fair share of injuries to contend with ahead of the tie.
Jeremie Aliadiere took a kick on the Achilles on Saturday and faces a pre-match fitness test, as does Adam Johnson, who limped out of the game with a sore ankle.
Southgate believes all the pressure is on Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United ahead of the match.
United go into tomorrow night's game with just one win - at Portsmouth in August - to show from six fixtures in all competitions since the start of the Barclays Premier League season.
While the Carling Cup may be very much last on Sir Alex's list of priorities for the season, the vastly experienced Scot will want to end his side's uncharacteristically poor sequence of results at the earliest opportunity.
Should the United boss opt to ring the changes and field a makeshift line-up, Southgate does not believe it puts Boro under extra pressure to claim a result, and lists the non-starters at Chelsea as evidence of the Red Devils' incredible strength in depth.
Southgate said: "When I looked at their squad it was Nani, Giggs, Ronaldo, Tevez, O'Shea, Vidic (who did not start), so it still looks decent to me, so I would have said there is very little pressure on us.''
Asked if it was a good time to take on the champions, he continued: "It is, but you've got to be conscious of their quality.
"I wouldn't imagine too many of the side that played at Chelsea will play against us but by my reckoning that still left them with about 10 internationals when I was writing a possible team down.
"I think they will be strong, there will be players Sir Alex will want to give a game to and he'll want to beat us so we've got to be prepared to face what could well be a star-studded line-up.''
Although Southgate and Sir Alex have had the odd touchline confrontation during recent matches between the side, the Boro boss is still a huge admirer of the long-serving United manager.
He said: "Sir Alex is obviously the person all other managers look up to for what he's achieved and his continued hunger to keep achieving, his phenomenal drive about him as a person.
"He'll be logical about the position they're in at the moment but wanting them to win matches and he'll want to start against us.''
While United have made a poor start by their high standards, the jury is out on Boro's early-season form.
Home wins over Tottenham and Stoke in the Barclays Premier League and a 5-1 Carling Cup thrashing of Yeovil have been offset against away defeats at Liverpool, Portsmouth and, most recently, Sunderland.
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