Pardew boosted by injury news

Pardew's attacking options were damaged by Andy Carroll's departure, and a broken cheekbone suffered by Shola Ameobi was compounded by knocks to Best and Ranger in Saturday's 4-4 draw with Arsenal. Pardew said: "Both Nile and Leon are due to train again on Thursday without any problems and that is obviously a bonus for us as we are very short. "We are still looking to see if we can sign someone to beef us up in that area. We are going to a make decision on Wednesday as to whether there is anyone available who can do that. "There aren't many to choose from on the free agent list as you can imagine, but we have done the necessary research and now we are about to make a decision on whether we're going to do something." Ameobi is ahead of schedule in his recovery - originally quoted at two months - but United are rumoured to be lining up deals for former Arsenal forward Jeremie Aliadiere and Brazilian striker Ewerthon.