Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough hopes defender Stephen Warnock will recover from injury in time for Saturday's trip to Leeds United.
Warnock - a summer signing from Wigan Athletic - damaged his ankle ligaments just minutes into the 4-1 defeat to Hull last month and hasn't played a minute since.
But Albion manager Clough is optimistic that the former Leeds man will be ready for a return to Elland Road, where he plied his trade for two years during 2013 and 2015, captaining the Whites in the process.
The Brewers have strength in depth in defence after John Brayford's deadline-day signing, with the likes of Warnock, Brayford, Tom Flanagan, Jake Buxton, Ben Turner, Kyle McFadzean and Tom Naylor all available for selection when fully fit.
Aside from Warnock, the Brewers also have another couple of players in Hope Akpan and Luke Varney struggling to shake off injury problems, while Luke Murphy is ineligible given his parent club is Saturday's opposition.
"We're hoping to have Stephen Warnock back," Clough said at Wednesday morning's press conference.
"He's not done any training yet, so we'll see how he is later this week.
"He'll be looking forward to getting back onto the pitch and going to one of his old clubs.
"We're hoping he'll be fit, but with seven games coming up in 21 days, they come thick and fast.
"We're off to Norwich City on Tuesday, so we certainly don't want him to be out and miss the next six.
"Luke Murphy is obviously out, because he's ineligible to play.
"Hope Akpan's still struggling from an injury he picked up in training. He's actually available after suspension, but he's injured.
"Luke Varney, I'm not sure - he’s not trained either with a hamstring.
"They're the main doubts, but everybody else should be okay."
One player set to make a return to the side is Matty Lund, following his ankle injury picked up in last month's 2-1 defeat of Birmingham City.
The only blot on an otherwise good days' work for the Brewers was seeing Lund, a summer signing from Rochdale, carried off on a stretcher with an ankle issue.
But the good news for Albion fans is that Lund, along with Tom Flanagan, was included in Northern Ireland's squad for their 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over the Czech Republic on Monday night.
"He was close (to playing) and we don't stop lads going away internationally, so he went and he was available for the second game - so that's fine," added Clough.
"He joined in training, and (Burton physio) Nick Fenton keeps up to date with their physio and gets progress reports on how he's doing, and he's back in training this morning."
