Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has included injured midfielder Owen Hargreaves in his 24-man Premier League squad.
Managers had to name a 25-man squad by 17.00 BST on Wednesday and there were fears Hargreaves could miss out after making just one substitute appearance in the last two years.
Ferguson had even admitted the former Bayern Munich man could be forced to retire earlier in the summer but the United supremo has included Hargreaves in his Premier League squad.
The 29-year-old, who has 42 caps for England, has a persistent tendinitis problem and is still undergoing treatment for the injury but if fit could be available for action after being handed a place in the squad.
Despite the fact Ferguson has named just 24 players he can use as many players under the age of 21 from within his squad as he wishes, meaning Chris Smalling, Fabio, Rafael, Gabriel Obertan, Bebe, Ritchie De Laet, and Federico Macheda are all available for selection despite not being named.
Manchester United squad: Ben Amos, Darren Fletcher, Tomasz Kuszczak, Darron Gibson, Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson, Park Ji-Sung, Jonathan Evans, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Antonio Valencia, Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, John O'Shea, Javier Hernandez, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney.