Knee op sidelines Cousin

Cousin was left out of last weekend's 2-2 draw with West Brom in the Barclays Premier League in the hope that rest would cure the problem, but it has since emerged that the injury is more serious and he will have an operation similar to one that laid off Bernard Mendy for a couple of weeks in November.

Manager Phil Brown said: "Daniel needs a minor operation. It was first assessed on Monday and Daniel was quite adamant that he didn't need one."

He added: "But he has understood that we have top-class medical people at the club and he now needs an operation.

"We may have wasted two or three days but he is going in on Friday. I don't know how long he will be out for but we have a history at this football club of getting (players with) meniscus back on the training ground after 10 days."

Hull's other major injury concern is record signing Jimmy Bullard, who has managed just 37 minutes of action since his £5million move from Fulham earlier in the month.

The midfielder jarred his knee on his debut against West Ham on January 28 and missed the visit of West Brom. The injury is not connected to the one which sidelined him for 15 months in September 2006 but Brown admits he is not yet sure when the 30-year-old will be fit to return.

Hull are awaiting the verdict on scan results which have been sent to Bullard's surgeon, Dr Richard Steadman, in Denver, Colorado and he looks doubtful for Saturday's trip to Chelsea.

Brown added: "The scan situation hasn't become farcical but it has been delayed. Because it has been delayed Jimmy's knee has settled down, the swelling has completely gone. That might be a blessing in disguise but we will see how Jimmy is.

"It has got nothing to do with the old injury, Jimmy has played 40 or 50 games since then. It is unfortunately the same knee but it is a totally different injury."