Reading midfielder Brian Howard will be sidelined for at least a month after undergoing surgery on a broken jaw.
The 28-year-old sustained the injury during the 2-1 defeat at Derby.
"He had an operation, which went well, and now he's in a four or five week recovery period," said Royals boss Brendan Rodgers.
"We just have to monitor him for the moment, for the first few weeks he will only be able to do non-contact stuff.
"If it was up to him he'd be back training by the end of this week, but we know you have to be careful with these things."
