Fulham secured a comfortable 3-1 victory over Amkar Perm in the first leg of their Europa League play-off but their win was marred by the news that Andrew Johnson has been ruled out for up to eight weeks with a dislocated shoulder.
Johnson struck the opener after just three minutes but was forced from the pitch midway through the second half following an outrageous body-check that sent the England striker sprawling. Tests have now confirmed the dislocation meaning a spell out for the striker.
The incident soured an otherwise successful night for Fulham who established a comfortable lead for the second leg with further goals from Clint Dempsey and Bobby Zamora.
New signing Damien Duff, who joined from Newcastle United on Tuesday, made his debut from the bench for the last 15 minutes and had a hand in Zamora's goal.
Vitaliy Grishin ensured Amkar, who sit 13th out of 16 in the Russian Premier League, got on the scoresheet with 15 minutes to go.
Nikica Jelavic scored inside the first minute as Aston Villa were beaten 1-0 by Rapid Vienna in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier.
Jelavic headed home just seconds after kick-off at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium to secure a victory the Austrian side deserved for their dominance in the rest of the match.
Christopher Drazan was a constant threat for Rapid and had one good shot cleared off the line by Curtis Davies while Brad Guzan saved another.
Villa's best moments came in the second half but Davies headed over from one clear-cut opportunity and the visitors failed to seriously test opposing goalkeeper Helge Payer.
Rookie midfielder Jack Rodwell became Everton's youngest goalscorer in European competition with two spectacular long-range goals in their emphatic 4-0 victory over Sigma Olomouc at Goodison Park.
With Louis Saha also weighing in with a brace this was surely the response manager David Moyes was looking for after the 6-1 defeat by Arsenal at the weekend.
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