Cole facing World Cup heartbreak after new injury setback

Arsenal's Ashley Cole celebrates after scoring a penalty against Manchester United in May 2005. Cole's chances of being fit for England's World Cup campaign have suffered a fresh blow after the left-back broke down just seven minutes minutes into his latest comeback match.

Ashley Cole's chances of being fit for England's World Cup campaign have suffered a fresh blow after the left-back broke down just seven minutes minutes into his latest comeback match.

Cole, 25, hobbled out of a reserve match against Tottenham on Monday night after injuring his ankle.

A club spokesman however insisted that the injury was not a recurrence of either of the problems which have forced Cole to miss most of this season.

"He seems to have sprained his left ankle. It's not a recurrence of the old injury," the spokesman said, before admitting: "There is no telling at this stage how long he will be out for."

Cole fractured his foot in October and then sustained a thigh muscle injury on his return to action against Middlesbrough last month.

The latest setback is bad news for Arsenal, who face an uphill struggle to secure a top four finish in the Premiership and a place in next season's final qualifying round for the Champions League.

The Gunners have lost 10 league matches already in the current campaign and have struggled defensively when they have been without Cole, his under-study Gael Clichy (out until April) and centreback Sol Campbell, who is battling both physical and psychological problems.

If fit, Cole is an automatic choice for England. In his absence, Wayne Bridge is expected to fill the left-back slot in Wednesday's international friendly against Uruguay.

Bridge recently moved from Chelsea to Fulham on loan to ensure he is playing regularly in the run-up to the World Cup finals in Germany, in June and July.

Prior to Monday night's match, Cole had admitted he had found the first major injury of his career tough to deal with.

"I have really missed playing," he told www.arsenal.com. "I'm here to play football so to not be involved at all is really disappointing.

"It's been so hard. You come in for training and you have to go in the gym while all your team-mates are going out and doing what you want to do.

"It's been frustrating but I've worked hard and hopefully the injury will go away now."