A number of Manchester United players have reported to training on Tuesday in an optimistic sign their match with Newcastle next week can go ahead.
United have seen their Premier League fixtures against Brentford and Brighton called off after Covid-19 swept through the camp and closed their Carrington training ground.
But it was re-opened on Tuesday with Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane, Mason Greenwood, Luke Shaw, David De Gea and Fred among the players driving in to report for duty.
Interim manager Ralf Rangnick was also present in a sign the Covid issues that saw United hit by 19 positive cases are starting to ease.
The Manchester Evening News reported that Scott McTominay, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata were also present but Greenwood, Shaw and Lingard left again after 10 minutes.
However, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba, Donny van de Beek, Diogo Dalot, Jadon Sancho, Phil Jones, Dean Henderson and Tom Heaton were not accounted for.
The club has said the return of the players will be ‘staggered’ in the lead-up to Monday’s Premier League fixture with Newcastle at St James’ Park.
Rangnick is set to speak at his pre-match press conference on Thursday after a difficult few days.
First-team training at Carrington closed down last Tuesday before the base re-opened on Wednesday and Thursday.
But it was shut once again on Thursday after the postponement of Saturday’s home game with Brighton. That followed Tuesday’s trip top Brentford being called off.
It has left United with games in hand in the top four race but it isn’t entirely clear when these will be rescheduled for given their Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League commitments in the new year.
After the trip to Tyneside, United host Burnley on December 30 and Wolves on January 3.
Their return to the training ground on Tuesday came as the Premier League pledged to plough on with the festive fixture list despite several clubs being affected as the Omicron Covid variant takes hold in England.
A record 90 positive tests were returned by Premier League players and staff last week.
An emergency meeting of the 20 clubs was called on Monday after six games were postponed over the weekend.
The decision was made to push on with the two round of games spread over five days from December 26. One option had been to postpone game week 20, starting on December 28, but this was rejected.
The Premier League advised clubs that if they had 13 fit players, plus a goalkeeper, they should fulfil their fixtures. Under-23 players with suitable first-team experience can be used.
On Monday, the Premier League announced that 77 per cent of players have had two vaccinations, a rise from 68 per cent in October. 84 per cent of players have had at least one jab.
