West Brom's Dawson out for two months with knee injury

The 27-year-old was substituted two minutes from time at St Mary's Stadium with manager Tony Pulis and the club's doctors fearing that he may have suffered cruciate ligament damage.

(Reuters)

However, scans revealed that Dawson's injury was not as serious as initially feared but the versatile player would be out until the busy Christmas period.

"The injury gave Craig a serious thigh muscle bleed and a torn knee capsule," West Brom's director of performance Mark Gillett told the club's website on Thursday (www.wba.co.uk).

"It's a serious injury but we are heartened that it's already showing an improvement and surgery is not required."

Defender Jonny Evans (groin) and midfielder Gareth Barry (back strain) were also set to undergo scans this week after sustaining injuries in the defeat by Southampton.

Dawson has started all of 13th-placed West Brom's nine games this season. The club is winless in seven league games and host table-toppers Manchester City on Saturday.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)