But United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is still struggling with injury worries.
Rio Ferdinand is back in training and could also be involved at The Stadium of Light.
Jonny Evans is out with an ankle injury.
“I don’t think they’ll be fit,” said Ferguson of Evans and Ferdinand. “We’tr ying our best but, in which case, John O’Shea will play centre back and Gary Neville at right back.
“Rio’s started to run today and hopefully we’ll get him ready for Wednesday’s game.
“Rafael has started training this week, on Tuesday, and he needs a few days’ training but he will be available for next Saturday. That’s some good news. Wes Brown is not far away. He’ll start football training next week. We need these defenders back as they’ll make a hell of a difference to us, no question.
“In these situations, we want our experienced players playing all the time. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that with Vidic’s suspension and Rio and Gary have been injured. A collection of players like that coming back will be good for us.”
