Laursen facing four weeks out

Villa defender hoping to avoid knee surgery

By Rob Parrish   Last updated: 26th December 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Laursen facing four weeks out

Laursen: Knee injury

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Aston Villa defender Martin Laursen is facing up to four weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury.

The Denmark international experienced pain in his knee after the 1-0 win over West Ham and missed the 2-2 draw against Arsenal with Gareth Barry taking the armband.

Centre-back Laursen has a history of knee problems and was nearly forced to retire a few years ago after an injury kept him out for the whole of the 2005/06 season.

Martin O'Neill confirmed his skipper had been sent for scans and is hoping the influential defender will not require surgery to resolve the problem, as that would lead to a lengthier absence.

O'Neill told Sky Sports: "He's going to be a few weeks, he's had an injection to try and get the knee settling down.

"We thought it might require surgery, but we're feeling it might settle down and he could return more quickly than if he'd had the operation. We're talking about three or four weeks."

Zat Knight came into the side in place of Laursen against the Gunners and scored a last-gasp equaliser as Villa hit back from 2-0 down to snatch a point.

The home side dominated the opening exchanges at Villa Park and hit the woodwork three times through James Milner, Steve Sidwell and Curtis Davies, but were rocked when Denilson scored totally against the run of play.

Brilliant

Abou Diaby then made it 2-0 to the Gunners with a superb second before Barry reduced the arrears from the spot after William Gallas had felled Gabriel Agbonlahor.

O'Neill had nothing but praise for his side's first-half display, and was delighted with the character they showed to hit back for a point.

He added: "We should have had the game out of sight by the first-half, we were absolutely brilliant, we could have scored three or four.

"The goal before half-time rocked us and knocked us back. I thought that Arsenal enjoyed their best spell just after half time and scored their second goal.

"But we got back into it and never gave up. I thought after that the last 20 minutes belonged to us, we were trying to force the equaliser and finally we got what we deserved.

"It's very, very easy to say when you've got a late, late equaliser, but even if we were beaten today I would have said the character we've shown was unbelievable.

"We set out as you can see to try to win the game. We were vibrant, full of energy and showed a lot of great ability. We were knocked back so eventually getting something from the game when we were 2-0 down was not bad."