Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill is hopeful that Nicklas Bendtner could be fit for Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final against Everton.
The striker, on loan from Arsenal, was stretchered off during the weekend's 1-0 win over Liverpool with a knee injury.
However, O'Neill is confident that the problem is not as bad as first feared.
"The news on Nicklas is encouraging," said O'Neill. "We had originally been expecting to wait 48 hours for swelling to go down around the knee before we could consider a scan.
"But the knee itself got much better in the 24 hours immediately afterwards, which looked good and it meant he felt quietly confident about doing a little bit of training yesterday.
"The very fact that he felt confident enough to want to try it out is obviously a good sign, but we just have to wait and see how it develops over the week and see whether there's any reaction."
Bendtner has scored five goals during his stint at the Stadium of Light.
Liam Apicella
