Tottenham and England striker Jermain Defoe set for six-week lay-off with ankle injury

In what is the second blow for Tottenham following the two England Euro 2012 qualifiers, Defoe is now likely to join Michael Dawson in missing the start of the club’s first ever Champions League campaign.

Dawson has already been ruled out for the next two months after damaging knee and ankle ligaments during England’s 4-0 victory against Bulgaria on Friday. Defoe has made a strong start to the season and scored a hat-trick in the win against Bulgaria, but is now also a major doubt for England’s next Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro.

Theo Walcott, meanwhile, is optimistic that he has suffered only a sprain to his ankle, although he has been ruled out of Arsenal's next two matches.

There were fears of much more serious damage when he was rushed to hospital after just 13 minutes of England’s 3-1 win over Switzerland but a subsequent X-ray showed no break or ligament damage. It is expected that he will be back playing once the bruising has subsided in around two or three weeks.

It means Walcott will miss Saturday’s home match against Bolton and the Champions League tie next Wednesday with Braga while he is now a doubt for the looming matches against Sunderland and Tottenham.

Sebastien Squillaci, Johan Djourou and Denilson are in contention to be in squad against Bolton after each playing the full 90 minutes for the reserves on Tuesday night.