Carroll could be out for six weeks

Carroll, 23, was forced to withdraw from England's 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine after the on-loan Liverpool frontman limped off in the second half of his debut against Fulham.

The Premier League club is yet to confirm reports scans have shown the problem to be more severe than first suspected.

However, co-owner David Gold responded to questions on his official Twitter account suggesting the player being back by mid-October would be the 'worst case scenario'.

Carroll is now certainly expected to miss the resumption of the domestic season at Norwich City next weekend, as well as the Capital One Cup tie against Wigan Athletic.

The Irons host Arsenal on 6 October, by which time if the striker is not back towards match fitness, he would also be a major doubt for the next round of World Cup qualifiers with San Marino at Wembley and in Poland the following week.

Hammers boss Sam Allardyce is in no doubt Carroll, who played a key role in two of his side's goals in the 3-0 win over Fulham, can be a major asset.

He said: "If Andy scores between 10 and 15 goals, it is going to give us a great chance to be out of the relegation zone.

"If Andy gets 15 to 20 goals, we can get in the top 10 because all we have to do there is to produce enough clean sheets to make sure we get points on the board with the goals that he scores."