Moore has had problems with his shoulder for three years, but it has recently been ‘popping out’ up to two or three times a match.Matters came to a head at the weekend when Moore couldn’t ease his shoulder back into place following a challenge from Frank Lampard and manager Martin O’Neill fears the worst.

“I don’t want to pre-empt things but it looks as if he’ll need an operation,” said the Villa manager this morning.

“Sometimes he has been able to slot it back in, but he wasn’t able to this time.

“If that’s the case, it would be a severe blow to us because it will take months and months and months. This could be a season-threatening injury.

“He didn’t want to have the operation. He needs it tightening and he needs to get it strengthened because if he doesn’t, it’s only going to cause him more problems.

“It’s a problem I didn’t even know about until pre-season when I saw him holding his shoulder in a game.

“Next thing I know, it’s coming out and it’s a real problem. If he has to have an operation it would be a shame because we’ve got a bit of momentum going.”

Villa’s only striking cover is Milan Baros, who replaced Moore at the weekend.

The £6.5m striker still isn’t match-fit after missing pre-season and will use the Czech Republic’s Euro 2008 qualifying double-header against San Marino and the Republic of Ireland to sharpen up.

Meanwhile keeper Thomas Sorensen claimed he was fouled by John Terry in the build-up to Chelsea’s goal.

“I had three players on top of me,” he said.

Read the full story in the Express & Star
Popular stories:

• High life view of the future
• Brum’s bull in denim
• Find bargains with StarBidz
• School to take pupils a year early
• Homes for slum area