Manchester City's record signing Sergio Aguero is set to be on the bench for Sunday's Community Shield against Manchester United at Wembley.
The Argentina striker has had blistered feet since his move from Atletico Madrid but is now training as normal.
Fellow new signings Stefan Savic and Gael Clichy will also feature.
United midfielder Michael Carrick is set to miss out after picking up an Achilles problem in Edwin van der Sar's testimonial on Wednesday.
Fellow midfielder Darren Fletcher and full-back Rafael are all back in training for the Red Devils following knocks in pre-season, but Sunday's game could come too soon for them.
Winger Antonio Valencia has also returned to training after recovering from the ankle injury he suffered while playing for Ecuador at the Copa America and could play a part at Wembley.
However, Javier Hernandez will miss the game and the start of the season after he suffered a concussion last month.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said: "Chicharito [Hernandez] won't be involved for maybe another two or three weeks.
"He had a concussion some years ago and we are just playing safe with that but he should be back by the end of August."
Ferguson must decide who to start in goal on Sunday, with summer signing David de Gea competing with Anders Lindegaard for the role.
City will be without last season's captain and top scorer Carlos Tevez, who is still on leave after the Copa America and is not expected to report back to the club until Monday.
It was initially thought Tevez would be back at the club's Carrington training base on Thursday but City manager Roberto Mancini says the striker had always been allotted 21 days' holiday following his international exertions.
With Tevez absent and his fellow Argentine Aguero set to start on the bench, Mancini could therefore pair £24m Mario Balotelli with £27m Edin Dzeko up front against United.
On the subject of Aguero, Mancini said: "Sergio is OK. He had a problem, but on Thursday he did 20 minutes training.
"I don't think he's 100% ready but he is fit to be on the bench."
Sunday's season curtain-raiser is a repeat of last season's FA Cup semi-final, which City won 1-0 thanks to Yaya Toure's 52nd-minute goal.
City went on to beat Stoke 1-0 in the final - with Toure again scoring the only goal - to lift their first piece of silverware in 35 years.
United made up for the Cup loss to City by going on to secure a record 19th Premier League title.
The teams have met once before in the Community Shield - then the Charity Shield - with United emerging 1-0 victors thanks to a goal from Dennis Viollet. The match was held at City's then ground, Maine Road.
The Community shield is often a mild-mannered affair, but the Manchester rivalry certainly gives this one an edge. Neither team will want to lose and even though it is arguably the least important match of the season, they will be going into the game with one intention only – winning.
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Looking at United, the reigning Premier League champion has been doing well in their pre-season friendly matches with strings of impressive results that include a 2-1 win over Barcelona recently. Furthermore, Sir Alex Ferguson has managed to bring in new reinforcements such as Phil Jones, Ashley Young and David de Gea to replace the retired Paul Scholes and Edwin van der Sar. At the same time, he knows that this match will provide an early opportunity to avenge last season's FA Cup semi-final defeat against Roberto Mancini's side, which opened up the path towards ending the mega-rich club's 35-year trophy drought.
Glazing across the blue side of Manchester, City has been active in the transfer market as well, with the summer acquisition of Sergio Aguero, Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic. Similarly, Mancini’s men have also been performing during their pre-season friendly matches, as exhibited by the recent victory in the Dublin Super Cup by defeating Inter Milan. Apart from Aguero who should start from the bench and Tevez who only returns on Monday, Mancini still has a pool of players to choose from to lead the attack on Sunday, with quality names such as Edin Dzeko and David Silva, not to forget Mario Bolatelli.
Overall, this curtain raiser for the new Premier League season should be a fascinating encounter. However, after a pre-season during which every match has been won (if you count a penalty shoot-out victory over LA Galaxy), Roberto Mancini will be telling his side they can start the season by beating their fiercest rivals who just happen to be the league champions. Thus, a small wager on City beating United for the Shield sounds attractive, given the fact that Ferguson will be resting several key players after their hectic pre-season matches.
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