Sir Alex Ferguson should be able to call on the services of four first-team regulars for Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Aston Villa as the Reds' injury crisis begins to ease.
Wayne Rooney (hamstring), Dimitar Berbatov (knee), Nemanja Vidic (flu) and the rested Ryan Giggs all missed the trip to Wolfsburg, but are expected to return to action against Martin O'Neill's side at Old Trafford.
The boss may still be forced to field another makeshift back four, but with some of his big guns back in attack he's confident in his side's ability to cope against Villa.
"We expect Vidic to be ready for Saturday. Ryan is fit and I also think Rooney and Berbatov ) will both be okay," said Sir Alex, following Tuesday's win in Germany.
"If I have that availability I am okay and I’ll be happy enough because I can play a back four of Fletcher, Carrick, Vidic and Evra."
The Reds are currently just two points behind leaders Chelsea, after a good run in the league which has yielded three straight wins with 11 goals scored and just one conceded.
"Our league form is very good. We’ve scored two fours away from home in the last two games which is great," added Sir Alex.
"We have a very difficult game on Saturday against Villa, they are always very hard to play against, but our form is good and you want that going into any game. Hopefully we can keep it going."
Gotta wait till Jan to see O'Shea again =(