Six weeks out for Svensson

The Swedish striker, who only joined The Canaries for an undisclosed fee from Premiership side Charlton Athletic last month, is to have a knee cartilage operation this week.

Svensson suffered the injury in the 4-0 away win at Derby County and agitated it further while in training.

The news has frustrated Norwich boss Nigel Worthington, who has made great efforts in recent weeks to bolster his striking department with the additions of Svensson, Darren Huckerby and Leon McKenzie.

"It's obviously disappointing, Mat's come in and settled in very well, so losing his services for up to six weeks is clearly a blow," Worthington told the club's official website.

"It's one of those things that comes along and hurts you in football and its better for Mat to get the problem sorted out now than to risk making it worse."

Meanwhile, Norwich have turned down an approach from First Division rivals Crewe Alexandra to allow winger Mark Rivers join the Gresty Road club on loan.

The Alex wanted to bring in cover for striker Luke Varney, who is likely to be out for up to three weeks with a shoulder injury, and boss Dario Gradi saw the former Crewe player as an ideal replacement.

However, Worthington feels Rivers may still be needed in his squad at Carrow Road.

"We have tried to borrow Rivo but Norwich have politely said no," Gradi told Crewe's official website.

"We spoke to Doug Livermore and the indication was that Mark would like to come here, but it's not going to happen for the time being."