Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier is keeping his fingers crossed skipper Stiliyan Petrov will not need surgery to resolve his knee problem. Houllier is hopeful Petrov will be back inside two months from the lateral knee ligament injury suffered against Sunderland on Saturday. But the Frenchman is aware that the timescale may alter if Petrov has to undergo an operation. Houllier said: "The worse case is that Stiliyan will be out for a minimum of two months. I think we should know by the end of the week whether he needs an operation or not. "Let's keep our fingers crossed he doesn't require one as it could then be treated conservatively which will be the best scenario "The worst scenario, of course, is needing the operation. But Stiliyan is a strong lad who has had to go through injuries before and he has always come back."
Source: PA
Source: PA