Fulham captain Tom Cairney to miss 'a few weeks' with foot injury
Thursday 30 August 2018 15:51, UK
Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic has confirmed captain Tom Cairney is expected to be out for “a few weeks” with a foot injury.
The midfielder picked up the injury during Fulham's win over Burnley on Sunday and was taken off after 78 minutes.
Cairney was forced to pull out of the Scotland squad earlier this week for their upcoming games against Belgium and Albania and Jokanovic admitted the injury is a setback for the Cottagers.
"Tom Cairney is going to be unavailable for the Brighton game," Jokanovic said.
"He has a foot injury and we still need to assess him but it is our expectation that he will be unavailable for a few weeks.
"We must assess him, he is going to be out for a few weeks.
"Yes, this is a big loss for us."
The Cottagers have other injury concerns for the trip to Brighton on Saturday as Neeskens Kebano injured his ankle in Tuesday's Carabao Cup win over Exeter.
The winger is set for at least a month in the treatment room.
"Kebano has an ankle problem and he is probably going to be out for four weeks," Jokanovic added.
"I am not a doctor, but it has a similarity to Cairney but it is not the same thing."
Floyd Ayite and Tim Ream are also missing with unspecified injuries.
After opening the season with back-to-back defeats, Fulham claimed their first points of the season against Burnley.
But Jokanovic knows they will face a stiff test when they travel to the south coast on Saturday against a Brighton side who have already upset Manchester United this season and looked impressive for spells in their 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield last weekend.
"We know it's going to be a tough away game for us," he said.
"Brighton played against Manchester United and Liverpool very well, for our side we will look at their strengths and weaknesses and see how we can cause them damage and fight for the points."
