Scholes out of action for six weeks after knee surgery

Paul Scholes will undergo knee surgery today or tomorrow that will keep him out of action for up to six weeks, Manchester United said yesterday.

The announcement came a week after Scholes was withdrawn from Sven Goran Eriksson's England friendly squad to face Portugal last Saturday because of the injury, which he sustained in a pre-season match in Amsterdam. Sir Alex Ferguson courted controversy by playing Scholes for 79 minutes against Middlesbrough last Wednesday.

"Paul is booked in for an operation tomorrow but we might put it back until Thursday," the United manager said yesterday. "He has never really recovered from the tackle he received in Amsterdam and hasn't completed a full game since last season."

The surgery will keep Scholes out of United's first Champions' League match of the season next week against Maccabi Haifa. The player could also miss England's opening pair of Euro 2004 qualifiers, against Slovakia on 12 October and against Macedonia four days later.

United have already been deprived of the services of Roy Keane for six weeks following hip surgery while the goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and the defenders Wes Brown and Quinton Fortune have also been injured. Ferguson insisted yesterday, however, that Scholes' operation could not be delayed.

"We have decided to bite the bullet and get it done now," Ferguson said. "We still have options in midfield and hopefully the injury situation will sort itself out in the next few weeks." With Scholes out, the Scottish international midfielder Michael Stewart has been brought into United's squad for tonight's match with Bolton.

Aston Villa have told Manchester United that they fully support the Premier League's decision not to consider rearranging the clubs' Premiership match on 26 October. The game at Villa Park falls in between United's Champions' League matches away to Olympiakos, in Greece on 23 October, and Maccabi Haifa, of Israel, whose match on 29 October has been moved to Cyprus because of security concerns. But the Premier League will not sanction moving the domestic fixture so that United can cut down on travelling and stay abroad.

The League has not received an official approach from United, but the Villa manager, Graham Taylor, said: "Our feeling is that we have to look at our interests as well. We have a break on 12 October, we play on 21 October and, if the United game was called off, we'd have a fortnight break before we play again. From our point of view, it doesn't suit us for that to happen."

The Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips will be out for six weeks after undergoing surgery on a hernia. The 29-year-old's operation, performed at the weekend, not only kept him out of last night's derby with Middlesbrough but will see him miss the Tyne-Wear derby at Newcastle on 21 September.

Phillips' problem, which is not thought to be related to the groin and stomach injuries which hampered him last season, became apparent after the 1-1 draw with Manchester United on 31 August. "It's disappointing for Kevin, but it's one of those things where we thought it would be best to get the operation done straight away," Peter Reid, Sunderland's manager, said. "It's difficult to put a time limit on things like this, but if all goes according to plan, he should only be out for three to six weeks."

Blackburn Rovers will collect a pay-off of around £100,000 from the Football Association of Ireland for losing Damien Duff for three weeks. The midfielder was injured while on international duty with the Republic in Russia at the weekend.