Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said he feared Christian Eriksen would miss the rest of the season after suffering an ankle injury in an FA Cup tie with Reading in January.
Eriksen returns to the United squad for Saturday’s Premier League encounter with Everton at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag is happy the Denmark midfielder has returned ahead of schedule.
However, he is still upset at the manner of the injury, caused by a tackle from striker Andy Carroll.
The former Liverpool and Newcastle striker was not booked for the challenge, although he was later sent off after being shown two yellow cards.
“It was not for nothing I was so angry about that tackle,” said Ten Hag. “It was a really bad tackle and a bad injury. I thought we lost him for the whole season.
“He is ahead of schedule and we are very happy with that.”
Ten Hag also confirmed England defender Luke Shaw would miss the game after being substituted in the first half of Wednesday’s win against Brentford.
Ten Hag did not confirm what the injury was but said he was confident Shaw would return soon.
“It’s an injury you have to see over days how it progresses,” he added.
“Sometimes you underestimate this injury but I think Luke did quite well, he knows his body and he went off in the right moment before taking more damage.
“In this moment we are quite positive about him returning quickly.”