Nottingham Forest hope Scott McKenna will be available to face Birmingham City on Boxing Day.
McKenna has missed four games with an ankle injury, but manager Chris Hughton hopes the central defender will be back in training in the next day or two.
One player who is back in training is midfielder Fouad Bachirou, who is still yet to play for Forest due to a long-term hamstring problem.
He had taken part in some sessions before suffering a setback, but was back in training today, although he is still some way off making his debut.
"We're hoping McKenna will train this week. We've got three more days training this week so we're hoping to have him back," Hughton said.
"Bachirou has returned to training. He did part of the training this morning.
"I would say Colback and Freeman are not long-term, but they're at least a few more weeks away yet.
"I'm not sure about Bachirou having to play for the under-23s (before the first team), but as regards being available for selection that will still be a little while.
"He came back to training for a period but then missed out on a few sessions. There's a lot of catching up with him so I'm not seeing him being involved (soon) but it's good to see him training."
Midfielder Colback suffered an ankle injury against Swansea City and has not played since, while Freeman has had surgery on a hernia, missing the last eight games.
