Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard is expected to miss two or three weeks after suffering a thigh injury.
The 31-year-old picked up the knock during an England training session Chelsea will be relieved that he faces a short lay-off after initial reports indicated that he might be sidelined for up to eight weeks.
Lampard returned home from Qatar on Friday, where England are preparing for a friendly against Brazil.
England manager Fabio Capello said: “I think he will be out for two or three weeks. It is a little problem with his muscle.”
Lampard, who suffered a similar injury to his left thigh at the start of the 2007/08 campaign, could miss a number of games for Chelsea, with the Blues travelling to Arsenal at the end of November for a crunch Premier League clash.
Capello added: “I don’t understand the problem.
“It was the same plane we used to go to Trinidad last year and also Kazakhstan this year. We didn’t have any injuries then and we won both matches.
“Frank came to me and said he had suffered this problem before, which was why he had stopped running.
“It was best to let him go home but, I think, in two or three weeks, he will be okay to play again.”
Christmas special offer – Subscribe to World Soccer magazine today and Save up to 32%
