• Premier League

Rooney, RVP hand United injury boost

Robin van Persie is set to return to training and Wayne Rooney will step up his bid to make a comeback as Manchester United's two leading strikers have given them a welcome boost.

Rooney has sat out United's last four games with a groin injury and was sent to Egypt with a fitness coach for a warm-weather break.

He did not travel to London for Sunday's 3-1 defeat against Chelsea and manager David Moyes is waiting to discover if he will be fit to face Sunderland in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday.

Moyes told British newspapers: "Wayne's come back fresh. He's doing some running and looking good. He's had a break, done some strengthening work on his groin."

Van Persie, who has only featured twice since scoring the winner against his former club Arsenal on November 5, has missed United's last 10 games with a thigh injury. But Moyes believes Van Persie is finally recovering and is optimistic he will return to the United side soon.

"I'm hoping Robin's got a good chance of training at the start of [the] week," Moyes said. "If I could get him back on the grass it would be a great boost for us: he's a really important player and one we've missed.

"Both of them are getting closer to fitness, so let's hope it's not too long until we get him back."

Summer signing Marouane Fellaini is another who should be available soon.

Fellaini underwent surgery on his injured wrist and has not featured since the 1-0 defeat to his former club Everton on December 4 having also suffered from back trouble.

But Moyes told MUTV: "Fellaini will have the cast taken off his hand on Monday. I've heard one or two people say it was only a wrist injury but it was a serious wrist injury that needed a major operation. It was bad. It could have been for the rest of his life so we had to make sure he got his wrist sorted properly."

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