Tottenham fear injured Belgian star will need surgery

Tottenham Hotspur star Mousa Dembele faces up to six weeks on the sidelines with a troublesome hip injury.

The Belgium international has missed Spurs last four matches, and the £15m midfielder is waiting for results of scans showing the severity of his injury.

Depending on the results, Dembele could either face six weeks out or, if the news is positive, the Belgian star could return in just 14 days.

Andre Villas Boas said in The Sun: "He can't move properly so he will have a deeper scan on the injury to assess it properly.

"If he does need surgery we are looking at him being out for one month, maybe a month-and-a-half.

"If not, he could be back in two weeks."

Spurs have had mixed results in his absence, with wins against Aston Villa and Southampton mitigated by a disappointing defeat to Chelsea at White Hart Lane, and a poor display away to Norwich in the Capital One Cup.

With Dembele out, Villas-Boas has turned to Tom Huddlestone. The England international has faced injury troubles of his own, and has struggled to stay match-fit for the last 18 months.

But with Dembele ruled out for the time being, the Spurs midfielder may have to fill in for the former-Fulham star.

Tottenham face Wigan at home on Saturday, before they resume Europa League action against NK Maribor on Thursday.

Spurs then have an extremely difficult November fixture list, with matches to come at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City and at the Emirates Stadium for the north London derby against Arsenal.