Striker Ruud van Nistelrooy will return for Manchester United's match against Charlton at Old Trafford on Tuesday following a four-game absence with a knee injury.
"Ruud will be back and that renews the partnership with Louis Saha, which started very promisingly until Louis got his injury and then Ruud got his injury," United manager Alex Ferguson said on Monday.
"They have not played with each other for five or six weeks, so it's a welcome comeback. With that partnership you always feel you are going to get a goal."
Van Nistelrooy, who has scored 26 goals this season, shared six with Saha in their first two games together following the Frenchman's signing from Fulham at the end of January.
An Achilles injury to Saha and van Nistelrooy's knee problem have limited their appearances together since.
Ferguson's side are third in the league, four points behind second-placed Chelsea, though a victory against Champions League-chasing Charlton could move them to within a point.
A victory for Charlton would move the southeast Londoners from seventh to fourth and the final Champions League place above Liverpool and Newcastle United.
"There's quite a few with their eye on that fourth spot, but I don't think any of them want it," Ferguson said of the battle immediately below the top three.
"They are all capable of getting that fourth spot, but they keep dropping points."
Captain Roy Keane may also return for the match if he passes a late fitness test, though Paul Scholes is likely to be unavailable if he is banned by the FA after a hearing for violent conduct later on Monday.
Phil Neville and Kleberson have also returned to training following injury.
Ruud: "I want to stay at Manchester United. Rumours of my moving to Barcelona are from the land of fairy tales"
However today's Sun still maintains that Ruud wants to leave, with either Barca or Real Madrid his preferred destinations.
He talks of Euro 2004: "I know everybody’s worried but I’m fit.
"We have great talent, and now we’ve started breaking ourselves in." He said the team would grow in strength with its remaining warm-up matches, and would benefit from training together in Lausanne in the run-up to the tournament. "That will be the first time we’ll really have to be with each other and work on some things," he explained.
Joan Laporta, Barca President on the meeting with Ruud's agent last Monday on the Costa Brava:
'It was an absolutely informal meeting and in no sense did we start up discussions.
'We have to be thinking of the market but in this case nothing has happened.
'We are not in the market for negotiations as the player is very happy at Manchester and Manchester want to keep him.'
BARCELONA vice-president Sandro Rosell today denied the Spanish club will offer Carles Puyol as bait to lure Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy to the Nou Camp.
Reports had suggested that Barca were set to offer central defender Puyol plus £12 million ($29m) for van Nistelrooy.
But Rosell told the BBC: "This is not true. There is no foundation in this story at all."
However, he added: "But a top-class striker will be the top priority in the summer – and the best in the world if possible."
Van Nistelrooy, who has scored 26 goals so far this season, recently signed a contract keeping him at Old Trafford until 2008.
And the Dutch international told the club's website on Tuesday: "I am happy at Manchester United. I recently signed a new contract and I wouldn't have committed my future to the club if I wasnt.
"I am enjoying my football, the fans are second to none, and any reports of me leaving are just wild rumours."
And United chief executive David Gill insisted: "Ruud is not for sale."
Ruud van Nistelrooy has been ruled out of Manchester United’s Barclaycard Premiership match at Birmingham tomorrow.
The Dutch striker has yet to recover from the knee injury which kept him out of United’s FA Cup semi-final win over Arsenal.
Kleberson is also missing with a knee injury while Louis Saha is a doubt with a troublesome Achilles complaint.
After keeping two clean sheets in his three-game run as first-choice goalkeeper, Roy Carroll is expected to keep his place at the expense of previous number one Tim Howard.
Quinton Fortune (knee) is out for the season, while Rio Ferdinand continues his eight-month ban.
Team (from): Howard, Carroll, G Neville, P Neville, Brown, Silvestre, O’Shea, Pugh, Fletcher, Butt, Scholes, Ronaldo, Keane, Djemba-Djemba, Giggs, Saha, Solskjaer, Forlan, Bellion.
Tim Cahill saw one dream come true at Old Trafford yesterday when he scored the winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Sunderland. And the Australian already has one ambition for the final against Manchester United.
"I hope I get Ruud van Nistelrooy's shirt," Cahill said. "Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Van Nistelrooy - they're my idols, but this gives us an opportunity to show what we can do. It's a massive chance for the staff and supporters and we deserve it."
Cahill, who insisted promotion to the Premiership "is more important than the FA Cup," added: "We have to relish this moment. When the ball hit the back of the net it was very special for me."
Millwall's David Livermore said: "If anybody had suggested we would be in the FA Cup final, Europe and chasing promotion last August, it wouldn't have been believable.
"The FA Cup is the greatest competition in the world and there have been upsets before, so who knows what might happen?" Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy said: "I'm upset for the players who worked so hard to get here. Millwall defended resolutely though we had enough opportunities to have scored."
RUUD TO RETURN
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