Manchester City's Trevor Sinclair has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing a scan on a troublesome knee injury.
City feared Sinclair, 31, may need surgery after inflaming his knee during the Carling Cup defeat against Arsenal, his first game since September.
But he has suffered a micro-fracture of the femur and ligament damage and will be on crutches for three months.
The verdict is worse than expected and Sinclair will not return this term.
Manager Kevin Keegan will also be without Ben Thatcher (ankle), Sun Jihai (cruciate ligament), Joey Barton (knee) and Claudio Reyna (groin) when they travel to Old Trafford for the derby clash with Manchester United on Sunday.
Keegan said: "We're having the sort of run you don't want with a small squad."
先発だけ貼っておきます Manchester United Starting XI 13.Carroll, Roy 2.Neville, Gary 5.Ferdinand, Rio 27.Silvestre, Mikael 4.Heinze, Gabriel 17.Miller, Liam 16.Keane, Roy 18.Scholes, Paul 7.Ronaldo, Cristiano 9.Saha, Louis 14.Smith, Alan Substitutes 1.Howard, Tim 3.Neville, Philip 6.Brown, Wes 8.Rooney, Wayne 11.Giggs, Ryan
Manchester City Starting XI 1.James, David 18.Mills, Danny 22.Dunne, Richard 5.Distin, Sylvain 41.Jordan, Stephen 44.Flood, Willo 26.Bosvelt, Paul 20.McManaman, Steve 10.Sibierski, Antoine 29.Wright-Phillips, Shaun 39.Anelka, Nicolas Substitutes 8.Fowler, Robbie 16.Onuoha, Nedum 21.Waterreus, Ronald 43.McCarthy, Patrick 42.Wright-Phillips, Bradley