RYAN Nelsen is facing a spell on the sidelines until after Christmas.
A hamstring injury ruled the central defender out of Saturday's 3-2 victory over West Ham after he felt it tighten late last week.
But manager Mark Hughes reckons it could be a fortnight before the New Zealand skipper is back in action, ruling him out of this Saturday's trip to Fulham..
"He felt tightness but we actually think he's got a little bit of a strain in there," said Hughes.
"He went out on Thursday but wasn't able to train for any length of time, so he'll probably miss a couple of weeks."
Nelsen will face more fitness tests as he tries to speed up his recovery next week, but Andy Todd will return for the trip to Craven Cottage.
A makeshift central defensive pairing of Zurab Khizanishvili and Lucas Neill highlighted Hughes' lack of defensive options as he had to move Steven Reid back to right back.
