West Bromwich Albion winger Nacer Chadli has been ruled out of action for up to two months after suffering another hip injury.
The 28-year-old had only just worked his way back to fitness following a lengthy spell on the sidelines, restricting him to just three Premier League appearances all term.
Belgium international Chadli limped off during the 3-1 loss to Stoke City last weekend and is now unlikely to play any further part before March.
Albion boss Alan Pardew confirmed the injury blow on Friday afternoon, while also hinting that he will now look to bring in new recruits in January.
"Nacer looks like his injury is as bad as it was originally," he told reporters. "We think he's going to miss the first two months of the year, which is a big blow for us. I said after the Stoke game that it was a bigger blow than the result.
"That's something we'll have to deal with, something I'm going to have to look at in January because obviously it is a quality player going out of the group for some considerable time."
West Brom may be able to call upon striker Salomon Rondon against Arsenal on New Year's Eve, meanwhile, as the injury he picked up earlier this week is "not serious".
Daniel Lewis
