England duo ruled out
08 Oct 2007 - 11:57:52
The Football Association has confirmed that both Andrew Johnson and Dean Ashton will be unable to play for England in this month's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia and Russia.
Both players were forced to withdraw from the squad through injury on Monday morning.
West Ham United striker Ashton sustained a medial knee ligament injury in his side's 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday, while Johnson suffered an ankle injury after coming on as a substitute for Everton in their 3-2 defeat at Newcastle United.
Everton manager David Moyes said on Sunday after Johnson had scored his first Premier League goal of the season: "It was a good day for him but he's going in to have an operation on Monday.
"He's got an ankle operation so he's going to miss the next three or four weeks."
Meanwhile, Hammers boss Alan Curbishley said of Ashton after his side's defeat at Villa Park: "Dean's hurt his medial knee ligament. You could see he was labouring and couldn't really run about.
"He swung his leg to clear the ball and has caught his boot on somebody and tweaked his medial knee ligament.
"It's a big blow for England, but it's also a big blow for us as we have injuries aplenty up front.
"It all depends how badly he's hurt his ligaments. We'll have to wait and see, but I'd say things are looking a bit tight for the next two weeks.
"You feel sorry for the lad, because he's had his fair share of bad luck and has worked ever so hard to get himself back fit and playing."