Tue 14th Nov 2006

Everton are to lose Tim Cahill until the new year with knee ligament damage sustained when he collided with team-mate Lee Carsley in Saturday's defeat to Aston Villa.

Cahill had a scan yesterday which revealed severe medial ligament damage, which means he will spend between six to 10 weeks on the sidelines.

Everton are concerned that he may also have suffered cruciate damage, which would mean he will be out of the game for the rest of the season but further tests need to be carried out to confirm this.