Steve Sidwell will miss Fulham's trip to Everton on Saturday because of a knee injury.
The former Aston Villa midfielder has not played since the February 20 FA Cup clash with Bolton and Mark Hughes has confirmed that he will not be right for the Goodison Park fixture with the Toffees.
"Injury wise, Steve Sidwell is not available for Saturday's game," Hughes said. "We expect Steve to be back in training next week but then he'll need a number of sessions to get back to a level, but he's a fit guy.
"We don't anticipate he's lost much fitness in the time he's been out so hopefully we'll get him back very, very quickly.
"He's [Sidwell] done very well since he's come here and it would be good to have him as an option again."
Hughes added that Sidwell's absence has not affected the squad too much due to the fact that Dickson Etuhu has remained fit but said it would be nice to have the pair together in the centre of the pitch.
"We were compensated because his injury coincided with Dickson coming back. His injury hasn't had too much impact, which it would have done if Dickson wasn't available. It would be good to get them both fit and well for the games we have left," he added.
