By Mark Heys
January 19 2006

Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce is puzzled as to why Gary Speed's knee injury is taking longer to heal than was first expected.... Speed has been out of action since limping out of the Liverpool game nearly three weeks ago and Allardyce told the official website that the former Welsh national captain could also be ruled out of contention for this weekends local derby with Manchester City.

"Gary is struggling to be fit for the game on Saturday," said Allardyce

"He has tweaked the ligament in his knee and this week's game has come too quickly in his rehabilitation. We are not sure how serious the injury is. He could be struggling for a couple of days or even a couple of weeks. He may be fit for Arsenal cup tie the week after."

The Bolton boss is currently awaiting to see if the knee responds well to treatment in the next couple of days before deciding on whether the injury would require some input from a specialist.

"If it doesn't improve in the next couple of days he will have to see a knee specialist to determine why it is taking so long to clear up. It is very disappointing that he will miss out unless there is a dramatic improvement in the next day or so.