Former Town star Kieron Dyer is facing World Cup heartbreak after sustaining an injury to his right knee during Newcastle's game with Southampton on Saturday. England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson says Dyer is highly unlikely to be able to take his place in Japan and Korea.

Eriksson said of the Ipswich-born player: "He is not good at all, he is almost for sure out. The doctor said it will take at least four weeks before he can practise, so we have called in Danny Murphy to come with us. On standby we have Trevor Sinclair.

"I have talked to him for half an hour and we will decide whether he comes with us or not. If there is a miracle I might think about taking him. Almost for sure he will not go.

"I feel very sorry for Dyer - he has been extremely unlucky. What happened was not a muscle problem but a bad tackle and that happens in football.

"He is absolutely destroyed. It's a knee ligament problem, and even if everything goes 100% well it can take at least four weeks to recover."

More bad news for England is that Liverpool's Steven Gerrard may require an operation on the groin injury which forced him to be substituted in the first half of Town's visit to Anfield on Saturday.

According to the England manager Gerrard will see a Belgian specialist: "Steven will go to see a surgeon in Belgium and he may need an operation immediately."

He will not travel with the squad on Monday and has added to the manager's already extensive injury problems: "Steven Gerrard is not coming with us tomorrow. So that means that Beckham has some problems, Butt some problems, Dyer almost for sure out, and Gerrard some problems.

"But we will have to wait on Steven, but I spoke to doctors today and they were not optimistic at all. This Sunday has not started well at all."

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