Van Nistelrooy may return

Ruud van Nistelrooy is sweating on his place in the Manchester United starting line-up to face Newcastle in the Barclays Premiership on Sunday.

The Dutchman surprisingly found himself on the bench for both the Carling Cup and Premiership triumphs over Wigan, although his introduction did inspire a Red Devils comeback at the JJB Stadium on Monday.

If Van Nistelrooy does return, it could be at the expense of John O’Shea as Sir Alex Ferguson toys with the idea of dropping Wayne Rooney into a slightly more withdrawn role in midfield.

Meanwhile, Quinton Fortune has returned to training after suffering only a minor knee injury in a reserve team outing at Middlesbrough in midweek.

Provisional squad: Van der Sar, Howard, Neville, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Brown, Vidic, Silvestre, Evra, Richardson, Ronaldo, Giggs, O’Shea, Fletcher, Park, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy, Saha, Rossi.