Fulham captain Cairney could miss rest of season

Fulham captain Tom Cairney could miss their remaining nine Premier League games of the season due to a persistent knee injury, manager Scott Parker said.

Cairney suffered the injury during pre-season and has managed just 10 league appearances, the last coming in a 1-1 draw at Newcastle United on 19 December.

When asked if the 30-year-old midfielder could be ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, Parker said: "Of course, there's that fear, definitely.

"It's proving to be a tricky one at the moment. You're getting to that point with Tom where he's been out for some time now and the issue is still ongoing.

"There's some injections we can look at which we're going to do. This course of injections we hope speeds up this healing process.

"We are confident and what brings us that confidence is that he is close. But this is an ongoing issue and time is against him with nine games to go."

Fulham are 18th with 26 points, two from safety. They host Leeds United later on Friday.