Wolverhampton Wanderers are waiting to learn the extent of Joao Moutinho's set-back which kept him out of the season's opener at Leeds United on Saturday.
Portuguese maestro Moutinho, who agreed a further year's stay at Molineux over the summer, didn't travel to Elland Road as Leeds inflicted a first defeat of the new campaign on Bruno Lage's Wolves.
The midfield regular's technical ability was sorely missed in the battle with the Whites, but Lage is hopeful that the injury isn't too severe and that the recovery period will be days, rather than weeks.
Moutinho picked up the injury during training in the week when he struck a ball with his weaker left foot and jarred it. Clearly in some discomfort, he was forced to sit out Saturday's defeat.
The experienced pro is now in a race against time to be A1 for the first game of the new term at Molineux, when Fulham visit Wolves next weekend.
"It was a strange injury, because he tried to shoot with his left foot and he twisted it in the last training session," Lage revealed. "I said to him 'why are you shooting with your left foot? Don't shoot!
"These kind of things can happen. Let's see what happens. Sometimes it's a problem for one day, or two or three days, it kept him out of this game. Now it's about understanding how he can improve.
"I don't think it's a hard injury, but let's see how much time he needs to recover."
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