TIM Sherwood has suffered another shock setback, undergoing an operation to remove his appendix in hospital last night.

The Blackburn Rovers skipper, currently serving a three-match suspension, is expected to be out of action for about four weeks, maybe longer.

But he would not have been available anyway until Monday week, August 23, when Rovers take on Sheffield Wednesday at Ewood in front of the Sky TV cameras.

So two weeks of his recovery period will be taken up by the ban, imposed after he was sent off at Southampton towards the end of last season.

It's another setback too for Rovers boss Roy Hodgson, as he aims to build on Saturday's winning start. He saw two of his senior stars, Tim Flowers and Colin Hendry, undergo surgery during the pre-season period - though Hendry made a remarkable recovery to play in the opening game against Derby.

Graeme Le Saux and Henning Berg have both left in big-money moves and now Sherwood, the team captain, as well as the supporters' player of the year last season, has had his return to the squad put on hold.

If there is such a thing as a good time for him to have surgery then it's now. For his ban will be completed by tomorrow's game at Aston Villa and the home clash with Liverpool on Saturday week.

By that time, he will hopefully be well on the road to recovery.

Burnley's Chris Brass had to have a similar operation when the Turf Moor squad reported back for pre-season training in early July.

And he was playing again in a friendly a week before the season kicked off.

Rovers seem unlikely to make much change to the squad for tomorrow's tricky game at Villa Park.

Although they lost 1-0 at Leicester on Saturday, Villa are expected to be one of the frontrunners in the title chase.

Advance ticket sales for tomorrow's game ended at lunchtime today. Rovers fans travelling without tickets can pay at the Villa Park turnstiles.

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