Aaron resswell will see a sepcialist in London early next week to see whether his knee injury will need surgery.

Club medics will wait until then before plotting a way forward althoough the club top medical man  Stijn Vandenbroucke told the official website: ‘Whatever course of action we decide to take, Aaron faces a period of rest, followed by treatment and rehabilitation and he will be out for a period of between three and four months.’

The news comes as a blow to manager Slaven Bilic, who is short of cover at left back, as well as to the player himself as he was touted for a place in Sam Allardyce’s first England squad in September.

Allardyce signed Cresswell for West Ham two years ago and remains an admirer.

The Liverpool-born former Ipswich player quickly took to Twitter to express his disappointment, but added a quotation hinting towards his determination to overcome this setback.

Creswell tweeted, ‘Absolutely devastated’ next to an emoticon of a crying face. He attached the message, ‘Never let a stumble in the road be the end of the journey’.