James Forrest will undergo surgery this week in a bid to solve his puzzling ankle injury.
The winger had to be substituted during the first half of the Europa League qualifier away to Riga on September 24, afterwards it was revealed that he had been playing with a stress fracture in his ankle.
Forrest’s experience, goals and assists have been badly missing over the last month but there it won’t be until after surgery that a timetable for his return to action can be planned.
Neil Lennon told The Sun:
He requires surgery, so that will hopefully take place next week and get that tidied up but he’ll be out for a period of time. I don’t know how long, it will depend on how successful the surgery is. It’s a stress fracture in the ankle.
Jeremie Frimpong and Ryan Christie have been used in Forrest’s right-wing role to varying degrees of success with the system switching from 3-5-2 back towards 4-2-3-1 in recent matches.
With three matches in three competitions before the international break Lennon will be desperate to avoid more injuries while he reintroduces Odsonne Edouard, Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed.