Villa blow as Emile Heskey requires knee surgery

Aston Villa's top scorer Emile Heskey has been ruled out for up to a month after sustaining a medial meniscus tear in his right knee during training.



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Heskey suffered the injury on Wednesday and will require surgery to correct the knee problem. Villa estimate he will be absent for between three or four weeks, meaning Heskey could miss up to five Premier League games and the Carling Cup quarter-final tie against rivals Birmingham City on December 1.

The striker has enjoyed a resurgence of form under Gerard Houllier, who also managed him to good effect at Liverpool, and has scored three goals in six games under the Frenchman.

Meanwhile, midfielder Steve Sidwell could miss the weekend's game against Fulham due to a virus but youngster Ciaran Clark expects to be ready for the trip to Craven Cottage, despite suffering a knock in the 0-0 draw with Birmingham last weekend.

"I got a dead leg and then took one in the nose from their 'keeper, but I'm feeling good now," Clark told the club's official website. "The dead leg is still a little bit stiff but I managed to get through training so we will see how it is.

"Then the 'keeper came out and caught me - but it was 'face on' luckily. If it'd been from the side, it might have been a bit worse but it was just bleeding. It was fine in the end. I should be fit. It's a little stiff now after training but that's expected."