David Cuffley Norwich City tonight suffered a massive blow with the news that defender Dejan Stefanovic looks certain to miss the rest of the season with knee ligament damage.

David Cuffley

Norwich City tonight suffered a massive blow with the news that defender Dejan Stefanovic looks certain to miss the rest of the season with knee ligament damage.

The 34-year-old Serbian centre-half was stretchered off after just nine minutes of Saturday's 2-2 draw at home to Preston.

Scans revealed that Stefanovic has ruptured cruciate knee ligaments and he will have an operation within the next two weeks.

Manager Glenn Roeder said: “Sadly the news surrounding Dejan is more serious than we first thought. This is clearly a long-term injury and a massive blow to the club and Dejan personally.

“He has been to see a specialist and had a scan and unfortunately, he has ruptured cruciate knee ligaments.

“Until the surgeon has completed the operation it's difficult to assess how long he will be out for, but obviously with this kind of injury you are talking about a lengthy delay.”

Stefanovic has made 12 appearances since his summer move from Fulham. He was sent off in the 2-0 defeat at Southampton and served a two-match ban, but has played in four of the last five matches.

Such a major injury is bad news for a player of his age, and will inevitably cast doubt over his long-term prospects, as well as leaving the cash-strapped Canaries short of defensive cover.

Two of this season's loan defenders, Middlesbrough's Jonathan Grounds and Tottenham's Troy Archibald-Henville, have returned to their respective clubs. Archibald-Henville could be recalled if required but Roeder revealed at City's annual meeting on Tuesday that he did not believe the 20-year-old was ready for Championship football.

Stefanovic - with 20 international caps for Yugoslavia, later Serbia and Montenegro - previously played in England for Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth. He joined Fulham in 2007 but moved after one season, signing a two-year deal with the Canaries in July.

Gary Doherty and John Kennedy are likely to continue their centre-back partnership in Saturday's Championship game at home to Swansea.

However, striker Antoine Sibierski is out of the Swansea game with a knee injury. He is expected to be fit for the trip to Nottingham Forest on November 22.

With midfielder Darel Russell starting a three-match ban for his red card against Preston, Roeder will be forced to make at least three changes to last Saturday's starting line-up.