NICKY Hunt gave Sam Allardyce a welcome tonic with the news that he could be fit for the start of the season.

Hunt was injured in Saturday's pre-season friendly at Derby, aggravating his knee ligaments, and the early indications suggested he could be sidelined for up to six weeks.

However, Allardyce has confirmed that the right back should return to action before the season gets underway against Tottenham on August 19.

Allardyce said: "Initially there was grave concern that Nicky had sustained a nasty injury. But having assessed his knee over the weekend, I'm glad to say that he should be okay to return to playing in two to three weeks."

If that was good news, the manager was further buoyed by the fitness reports on his other early casualties.

Allardyce confirmed that new signing Quinton Fortune is fit enough to resume training after the former Manchester United player was substituted in the second half of Saturday's game with a tight groin.

"Quinton is fine and can resume training later this week," revealed Allardyce And Abdoulaye Faye and Kevin Davies, who both missed the trip to Pride Park through injuury were back in training yesterday.

All Allardyce needs now to make it a perfect start to the week is some progress in the transfer market.

There was no news from the Reebok today of any imminent arrivals, but it is not all gloom on that front as it is understood there is no shortage of activity going on behind the scenes, which could lead to announcements later in the week.

That could include more news on Iranian midfielder Andranik Teymourian, who impressed on a recent trial.