Injury prone midfielder David Dunn has suffered an Achilles injury and is expected to miss around four months of the season. The 28 year has not featured for Paul Ince’s Blackburn Rovers side since the home draw against Hull City at the end of August.

It is further disappointment for both player and manager. For Dunn, it means yet another spell on the sidelines in a career that has been littered with niggling injuries. For Ince, he loses one of his most creative players at a time when the team needs to bounce back from recent heavy defeats to West Ham United and Arsenal.

Ince said “We gave him an injection a couple of weeks ago, hoping that would do the trick, but he's not getting there so we've no option but to put him under the knife…It's a massive blow to us”.

Dunn returned to Blackburn in 2007 after a mixed spell at Birmingham City. Since he has returned to Ewood Park, the midfielder has made 43 appearances, scoring twice.