September 21 2005

Andy Johnson

IAIN DOWIE has revealed Andrew Johnson will be out of action until the middle of October.

The England Striker underwent a exploratory knee operation on Tuesday, and the results were better than originally feared.

Talking about AJ in the press conference after the Coventry Carling Cup match, DOWIE said: "It could have been a six to eight-week thing - but we never thought it was as dire as some people were predicting.

"We hope to have him back for the Coventry game in mid-October."

This will mean Johnson is likely to miss the next 4 Palace matches, almost certainly ruling him out of the reckoning for England's World Cup qualifiers.