Walcott turned over on his right ankle in the early stages of England's 3-1 win over Switzerland and was stretchered off before being taken to hospital for scans on the problem.

Arsene Wenger now admits that with Nicklas Bendtner still out for "three to four weeks" and Robin van Persie absent until the end of October, his attacking options have been hit further by the loss of Walcott.

The news comes as a cruel blow to a player who has suffered extensively with injury problems in recent seasons, but had scored four goals in his past two appearances for the Gunners.

"The tackle looked quite bad," Wenger said. "When you see how it turned his ankle I thought it would be three or four days or it would be four to six weeks. Unfortunately it will be four to six weeks.

"We had some good news about the scan because at some stage we were scared it could be worse. But overall it is a question of patience and rehabilitation."

Arsenal confirmed on Tuesday that an ankle injury sustained by Van Persie in a 2-1 win over Blackburn was more serious than first feared. "That is bad news," Wenger said of Van Persie's injury. "At the start we were optimistic. Maybe a bit too much, thinking it would be one or two weeks. But the damage was bigger than expected and he will be four to six weeks."

However, Johan Djourou, Denilson and Sebastien Squillaci should all be available for Saturday's game against Bolton, while French midfielder Samir Nasri is close to returning to first-team action after undergoing knee surgery.

"He could even be involved against Bolton," Wenger said. "He has had a very good preparation and joins in [training] tomorrow. If needed I will integrate him in the squad for Bolton but for sure he will be back for our first Champions League game against Braga."

Defoe sustained the injury midway through the second half of England's win over Switzerland on Tuesday night.

The striker hoped the injury was not too serious after the match, but scans have shown Defoe has suffered ankle ligament damage.

The injury is set to sideline Defoe for six weeks at least and means he will miss several of Spurs' Champions League group games, starting with next week's trip to Werder Bremen.

The 27-year-old is also likely to sit out England's next Euro 2012 qualifier at home to Montenegro next month.

The news is a major blow for Defoe as he was establishing himself as a regular in Fabio Capello's side after scoring a hat-trick in last week's win over Bulgaria.

The injury is another headache for Spurs boss Harry Redknapp as he is already without Michael Dawson for two months after the defender sustained a knee injury against Bulgaria.

"Even if it's a bad sprain, you're still talking about six weeks or so, because it's a nasty one," said Redknapp.

Balotelli made his long-awaited move to Eastlands from Inter in mid-August but, having made an instant impact with a goal on his debut against FC Timisoara, he sustained an injury in the same match.

A statement on the club's official website read: "Striker Mario Balotelli is to undergo surgery on his injured knee that could rule him out for up to six weeks.

"The Italian's injury is to the lateral meniscus, one of the two most crucial structures in the knee, and medical wisdom is to try and encourage the problem to heal without recourse to an operation.

"It was hoped that the symptoms would settle down but, once Balotelli began to step up his recovery programme this week, it became clear that action would need to be taken."

Balotelli has now flown back to Milan for the operation.

Kuyt sustained the injury during training with the Netherlands national side this week and was immediately ruled out for four weeks by Liverpool's medical staff.

While Kuyt said earlier on Wednesday he hopes to be fit to face his former side FC Utrecht in the Europa League on Septemer 30, Hodgson is concerned that the Dutchman may be unavailable for a prolonged period of time.

"It could be more than four weeks," Hodgson said. "It's one of those injuries where it's very difficult for the doctor to say and I think four weeks is a very conservative estimate. If we're lucky it could be earlier, but it could be longer. We have to be very careful because it's the type of injury that has to be treated with a lot of respect.

"It's a great blow for us because Dirk is an important member of our first team. He does a job which is not easy to replace because he has all the qualities required for that role on the field.

"I was very sad to see such a thing happen, especially in a training session. It would have been bad enough to happen playing for the national team in a competitive match, but for it to happen in training was even more of a blow.

"He's a quick mender and he has a great mentality and attitude towards recovery, so he will be back as quick as is humanly possible. But we're looking at least a month and possibly longer."

However, Liverpool do expect young striker David Ngog to be available for the weekend's game at Birmingham City despite being withdrawn from the France Under-21 squad due to a hamstring injury.

"He has been nursing a problem but is much better now," Hodgson said. "We were obliged to withdraw him from the French Under-21 squad because when they got together ten days ago he wasn't fit.

"The French people were very good about that and realised there was a problem. I am hoping that he will recover in time for this weekend. We have nursed him through and hopefully he will train either today or Friday."

Hodgson also delivered a positive bulletin on the fitness of Brazilian full back Fabio Aurelio, who is currently unavailable due to an Achilles problem.

"Fabio is making very good progress and is definitely moving in the right direction," Hodgson said. "It was a relatively minor problem but one we had to nip in the bud because Achilles injuries can be very problematic."

Lampard's absence is softened by the return of captain John Terry, who like Lampard, missed England's Euro 2012 qualifying victories over Bulgaria and Switzerland.

Terry has managed to recover from the hamstring problem that forced him to pull out of the England squad.

"John is available to play tomorrow," said Ancelotti. "Lampard needs to have more time to rest. He trained with us this week and has done very well, but he needs to have more time. Maybe he'll be involved in the Champions League next week but not tomorrow.

"I think these players needed to have a rest because they had problems. Terry resolved this problem during the two weeks. Lampard had to have the surgery. He did very well because, in seven days, he was able to train again. But obviously we want to give him more time to recover 100%."

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp admits he was relieved to discover Michael Dawson is expected to be fit within eight weeks.

Dawson was stretchered off during England's 4-0 victory over Bulgaria on Friday night after his leg collapsed beneath him in a freak accident early in the second half.

Scans showed the 26-year-old defender had only sprained left knee ligaments and a left ankle ligament and he could be back in action by the end of next month.

"First of all, it's a big blow for Michael and a great shame for him," Redknapp told the club's official website, "but watching it live, I thought it could have been worse than it's turned out.

"It could have been his cruciate ligament and that would have been the end of the season for him but, as it is, it's not such a long job and he should be back in a couple of months."

Arsenal have confirmed that Robin van Persie is expected to be sidelined until the middle of October as a result of his ankle injury.

Van Persie suffered the problem in a 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers and was initially expected to be out of action for around a month, meaning he would have been hoping to return to action before the end of September.

That now looks an unrealistic prognosis with Arsenal confirming that his likely period of recuperation has been extended by around a further two weeks.

A statement on the club's official website read: "Robin van Persie will have to wait a little longer before he is back in the first-team frame. The Dutchman injured his ankle against Blackburn Rovers on August 28 and will be sidelined for longer than first anticipated. Van Persie is likely to be out of action until mid-October."

Van Persie will certainly miss the club's first two Champions League games against Braga and Partizan Belgrade and could be unavailable for up to five Premier League games, including the trip to Chelsea on October 3.