Rodallega injury less serious than first feared

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has revealed that the knee injury suffered by Hugo Rodallega is not as bad as the club first thought.

The striker was hurt in the closing moments of Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Everton, and was carried off after a challenge from Denis Stracqualursi.

There had been fears Rodallega had suffered serious knee ligament damage and would be out for up to three months. But while Martinez cannot give a timescale for the Colombian's return, he says it will not take as long as the Latics had initially thought.

He told the club website: "The scans came back really positively, it doesn't seem there are any big concerns in terms of the structure of the knee.

"We won't know how long he's exactly going to be out but what's clear is that the injury is not as bad as we first thought. Now we are going to make sure that Hugo recovers well and gets back on the football pitch as quickly as possible. He's the sort who lives to play the game, so he will be desperate to get fit.

"It's going to be a difficult period but in the same way it's going to allow us to work on different aspects of his full fitness. We'll make sure that when he comes back he is a stronger player than the one who suffered the challenge."

Another whose weekend knee injury has proved less serious than first feared is Danny Gabbidon, who could even be fit for QPR's Premier League game against Aston Villa on Sunday. The Wales defender had to go off after falling awkwardly late on in Rangers' 3-0 win at Wolves on Saturday.

But Gabbidon's scan has come back showing no structural damage, and the west London club's head physio Nigel Cox told the official website: "Danny twisted his knee, and the subsequent swelling made a full examination difficult. We sent him for a scan on Monday morning and the report has come back that there is no major structural damage, which we are delighted with.

"The injury certainly isn't as bad as we initially feared [but] at this moment in time, he is a doubt for Sunday's game."