Scholes was ruled out for 10 weeks when he suffered knee ligament damage against Aalborg in September but has returned to light training and could potentially make his comeback against Tottenham on December 13 before flying to the Far East.

The former England star joins another long-term absentee Owen Hargreaves on the sidelines for tomorrow's trip to Arsenal, while Wes Brown has also been ruled out for another week as he rests an ankle problem. Darren Fletcher (knee) is a doubt but captain Gary Neville is fit.

Team (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Foster, Neville, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans, O'Shea, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Gibson, Possebon, Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs, Nani, Park, Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez.