Duff faces three weeks on sidelines

DAMIEN DUFF could be facing around three weeks on the sidelines after undergoing minor surgery on his knee injury.

The 26-year-old limped out of the Republic of Ireland’s 1-0 victory over Cyprus in Nicosia last Saturday, resulting in a scan which revealed cartilage damage.

Duff was subsequently ruled out of tonight’s crunch World Cup qualifier with Switzerland and returned to London for more treatment and further scans with Chelsea’s own medical team.

Those scans prompted arthroscopic surgery yesterday, and though the club have yet to confirm how long he will be sidelined for, his agent Pat Devlin believes he will be out of action for two or three weeks.

The winger is likely to be unavailable until November, meaning he’d miss the Premiership matches against Bolton, Everton and Blackburn as well as the Champions League clash with Real Betis and the Carling Cup tie at home to Charlton.