Daniel Farke admitted it was a ‘shock’ to discover Ben Godfrey is out until February with an LCL tear to his right knee, after producing one of his finest displays of the season for Norwich City in the 1-1 Premier League draw at Leicester City.

Godfrey suffered the damage in the first half of last weekend's battling point but played the full game before scans revealed an LCL tear that does not require surgery but rules the England Under-21 international out until the New Year.

"It was a big surprise for us and a big blow," said Farke, speaking at Colney on Friday ahead of Wolves' weekend visit. "He said at half-time it didn't feel it was stable but also felt he could go on. I thought he then went out and produced one of his best performances so far during the season. That is why it was a shock when we found out on Sunday.

"We can't change the scan. The good thing is no surgery, he is a tough guy and maybe he can come back a few days earlier. Disappointing and sad news. He has an LCL tear. That means no surgery but he will be out until February. We expect to be without him for six weeks.

"We have several options. Grant Hanley is our club captain who has been back in training for 10 days. An experienced guy. In an ideal scenario you wouldn't throw him back in that quickly after being out for three and a half months. He can handle this situation. We also have the likes of Alex Tettey, who played really solidly in the centre back position, Ibrahim Amadou, who had some good performances.

"It is not the time to cry or complain too much or worry about fate. We have options and we have to find the right solutions for Wolves and many festive games."

There was a more upbeat injury bulletin on Teemu Pukki, with Farke confirming the Finn suffered bruising but no break to his toe at Leicester.

"He is available. Good news. Nothing was broken, just unbelievably painful," said the City head coach. "I wouldn't say in terms of pain there is a lot of difference but it is better to be bruised than fractured or broken. His toe in the first days was all sorts of colours. Then the swelling started to go down.

"There were some other knocks in these last days. Todd Cantwell missed a training session with a dead leg but he is available. Jamal Lewis missed one training session with a knock against his hip. But the same. That was a sign of how hard we have been working but, no, everyone else is in a good shape."