Liverpool forward Diogo Jota faces up to two months on the sidelines.
Jota suffered a knee injury in Wednesday’s Champions League dead rubber with Midtylland which initially ruled him out of the Reds’ trip to Fulham.
Jurgen Klopp initially described the Portugal international’s setback as ‘a knock’ which would be monitored ahead of the clash at Craven Cottage.
However the Liverpool manager has now confirmed that Jota will be absent from his squad for between six and eight weeks as a result of the problem.
Jota enjoyed a blistering start to his Anfield career with nine goals from 17 appearances in all competitions since a £41 million transfer from Wolves.
He is now set to miss up to 13 games and could be available at the earliest for the FA Cup fourth round, should Liverpool progress, on January 23.
“It’s worse than we first thought and better than we then thought,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
“All the potential surgeons had a look on it, no surgery needed. But he will be out for a while. We don’t know exactly but one-and-a-half, two months.
“We don’t know exactly. It’s pretty similar with Kostas Tsimikas, by the way. Unbelievable.”
He added: “It was first after the game. We saw the situation when he got it; him himself, nobody would have thought something happened there.
“We got him off the pitch and he said ‘I feel a little bit’ and next day, scans and then a surgeon has to look at it.
“That’s how we do it, different information. In the end, it’s strange but we were happy that we heard the final diagnosis.”