Owen Hargreaves broke the fibula (shin bone) of his left leg in the Bayer loss against Armenia Bliefeld, 2-1 He is expected to be out for at least 8 weeks and will definitely miss England’s qualifiers against Macedonia and the tougher match against Croatia.
What does this injury do for Hargreaves? Well, for one he will be less than match fit for the December transfer window. Sir Alex will have to take a chance now with bringing him to Man U, with each game becoming even more important in the second half of the Premiership.
As for Steve McLaren, he is confronted by the absence of his main holding midfielder, certainly a more cohesive unit with Lampard and Gerrard. Time to dust off Gareth Barry!