Melbourne Victory's Ola Toivonen is on track to resume his buoyant A-League campaign on Saturday night in Melbourne's derby.
The Swede is far from locked in from a return but coach Kevin Muscat believes his 10-goal striker is a decent chance to play after missing three weeks from a training knock.
"He's made good progress from last week," Muscat told AAP.
"He ran on Sunday. He trained on Monday in isolation. He'll do some work with Anthony (Crea, Victory fitness coach) on Tuesday.
"The view is for him to train with the team at the end of the week.
"He might wake up with pain one day and we'll have to alter the plan. But at this stage in time there's a decent chance he'll play."
Toivonen's return is seen by many as the missing piece of the puzzle for Victory given three of his fellow internationals have proven their fitness in the past fortnight.
Raul Baena has beat a hamstring issue to take his place in the heart of midfield while Georg Niedermeier made his first start since November in last Friday's 1-1 draw with Wellington in Auckland.
Japanese superstar Keisuke Honda will also be in contention to start at Marvel Stadium after two weeks of substitute appearances.
With Terry Antonis available once more after suspension and James Donachie getting his first minutes since returning to the club, the only first-team squad member left on the sidelines is hamstrung captain Carl Valeri.
The return of Antonis and Baena, and the possible return of Leigh Broxham to midfield, allows Muscat to be slower in returning his leader to the pitch.
"We're building. The situation we're in, we're building," Muscat said.
"We're getting players back and it's exciting. It's a good time for us."
In the absence of their big names, Victory have maintained second place on the ladder but lost touch with runaway leaders Perth Glory, now nine points clear.
"We've had to deal with quite a lot this year. In the long run it might be what helps us the most," Muscat said.
"Because of the situations we've been in, Anthony Lesiotis has got minutes, Kenny Athiu and Elvis Kamsoba have got minutes, everyone in the defensive third too.
"The fact a lot of players have game time will be a positive."
Australian Associated Press
