St Johnstone midfielder Sven Sprangler could be out of action for six weeks, manager Craig Levein has revealed.
The Austrian was taken off 25 minutes into Saints’ weekend defeat to Celtic, having injured his knee.
Scan results will give a more accurate timescale for Sprangler’s lay-off.
But there’s a possibility he won’t be back playing until after the Premiership split.
“Sven opened his knee up on Saturday and is going for a scan,” said Levein.
“We think it’s either a grade one or grade two medial ligament injury.
“A grade two is about six weeks out. If it’s a grade one, we might have him back in a fortnight.”
As with DJ Jaiyesimi, Sprangler’s injury has come at a point when he’s established himself as a regular starter under Levein.
“Sven’s a good ball-winner,” said the Perth boss. “That’s his game.
“He reads the game very well. His interceptions, tackles and these things are really good.
“When we changed the shape slightly we brought him in to sit beside Dan (Phillips).
“It gave us a wee bit more stability.
“It would be a blow to lose him for a while.
“He’s done well for us in the last three games and then has to drop back out again.
“We do think we’ll get him back for some of the matches, though.”
It’s probably a good thing that Saints have a free weekend coming up.
“We’ve got a few issues unfortunately,” Levein reported.
“Connor (Smith) has been ill. So he isn’t with us just now.
“DJ is obviously out for a while.
“Dare (Olufunwa) hasn’t trained for a couple of weeks but we’re hopeful of getting him back in time for the Dundee game.
“Andy (Considine) came off the training ground today because he felt his groin.
“We’ve not got our troubles to seek.
“At this time of the year you’d like to have a full hand, or close to it.”
Drey Wright ‘improving’
Meanwhile, Levein gave an update on Drey Wright’s training ground progress.
“Drey is improving,” he said. “He’s been out running so the next stage is getting him back involved with the group.
“The fact he is experienced makes it better, and the fact he’s experienced this injury before too.
“Generally the older players and the ones who have been through it before know what to do.
“We’re looking forward to getting him back because he can enhance us.
“We have good delivery in the team but we don’t really have anyone who likes to go down the outside.
“Drey does that and no disrespect to the others, but you find the attacking players are generally better at creating than the defensive ones.
“So we are keen to get him back.”
Conversation