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Chelsea will step up the hunt for a top-class striker in the January transfer window after the injury to Didier Drogba which confirmed fears that the 30-year-old's body may not be able to withstand the pressures of being the club's main attacker.
However, there is relief at the club that the damage to the Ivorian's right knee may not be as bad as first feared with some suggestions that he may be out for up to three months.
Drogba will not have to undergo surgery to repair the medial ligaments in his right knee - as opposed to the troublesome left knee which has caused himproblems for the past two years - but is still expected to be out for around six weeks.
Drogba fell awkwardly after being challenged in the second-half of Chelsea's Champions League tie away to the Romanian club CFR Cluj and was stretchered off immediately.
He was taken to hospitals for x-rays to check whether he had suffered any bone fractures after concerns that he had also broken his right ankle. His leg was put in a brace and he travelled to the airport for Chelsea's flight back to Gatwick Airport in a car as he could not be lifted into the team bus.
There are now eight Chelsea players on the injured list and although four of those - John Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole - are expected to be fit for tonight's Premier League meeting at home to Aston Villa.
Luiz Felipe Scolari's squad is severely stretched. His attacking options, in particular, are limited which brings into even sharper focus the failure to sign Robinho in the summer, with Chelsea refusing to meet the £32.5m asking price set by Real Madrid for the Brazilian striker.
Chelsea are already on the look-out for a striker and the suspicion must be that Scolari does not have complete faith in the abilities of Nicolas Anelka - his only available, fit striker - to lead the line even though some reports have quoted Scolari as saying that he will persist with his exisiting squad.
Drogba's latest injury sharpens the focus of that search. Eligibility to play in the Champions League will be a factor for any recruit.
However, ambitious bids can't be dismissed for either Valencia's David Villa - despite the Spanish international signing a new contract in the summer - or Atletico Madrid's Sergio Aguero (who, like Villa, has indicated he does not want to move to England).
The game against Cluj was only Drogba's third start of the season with Scolari having expressed concern that it may take him some time to regain his form and fitness after being out over the summer with further knee problems.
Chelsea are already missing Ricardo Carvalho, who has also suffered a knee ligament tear and should be back by the end of October. Deco has a tear in a thigh muscle and is expected to be back in just over two weeks while long-term casualty Michael Essien has damaged cruciate knee ligaments and will not return before March next year.
In addition Scolari has, as promised, conducted a major clear-out of his squad as he reduced the numbers over the summer. The departures include Steve Sidwell, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Tal Ben Haim and Claude Makelele while two players who had already left, Khalid Boulahrouz and Hernan Crespo, permanently severed their links. Three strikers also went - Claudio Pizarro, Ben Sahar and Andrei Shevchenko - and while all three are effectively only on loan, it is unlikely they will return.
The Chelsea players have expressed concern about the injury crisis with midfielder Frank Lampard admitting that the squad is a "bit thin on the ground" which will make it hard to continue challenging on all fronts.
"Nicolas is a top-class striker," he said. "And we also have Salomon [Kalou] and young Franco di Santo [the 19-year-old Argentinian]. The experience is not really there, but I believe the quality is."
- INDEPENDENT
