West Brom's Shane Long will miss six weeks with a knee injury

West Brom striker Shane Long is set for six weeks on the sidelines recovering from the knee injury he sustained in the 2-1 win at Aston Villa.

Baggies manager Roy Hodgson claimed Republic of Ireland international Long was lucky not to have "two broken legs" following a challenge from Alan Hutton.

Scans have revealed severe bone bruising and a small bone chip inside his right knee.

Long will now miss his country's Euro 2012 play-off with Estonia.

The forward, who joined from Reading in the summer, would have been sure to play a key role for Giovanni Trapattoni's team in the double header on 11 November and 15 November.

But he will now be absent until West Brom's trip to QPR on 3 December at the earliest.

Hutton's two-footed lunge forced Long to limp off the pitch during the first half at Villa Park.

"It will be very interesting to see what the experts think but I thought it was an appalling tackle," Hodgson said after the match.

"Shane's lucky not to have two broken legs. He has a serious knee injury I would think."

Hutton escaped unpunished for the incident, with his manager Alex McLeish defending the challenge.

McLeish said: "Hutton got to the ball first and it's difficult for players to pull out of challenges like that."