New injury means Richard Dunne’s Premier League career could be over

Richard Dunne has been ruled out for at least three months.

The QPR defender injured the medial cruciate ligament in his knee in yesterday's 1-0 loss to Southampton at Loftus Road and the club today released a statement saying Dunne is expected to out for up to three months, ruling the former Ireland defender out of the majority of the remaining Premier League season. Dunne has made 18 league appearances for QPR this season, starting ahead of high profile summer signing Rio Ferdinand, and the 35-year-old had only said earlier this week he wished to continued playing. 'I’d love to keep going', Dunne told the Irish Examiner. 'But I’ve no contract waiting, and we’ll have to wait and see what the situation is with the club. We don’t want to think about going down, so I’m not thinking it would be easier for me in the Championship.' With QPR struggling in their fight to stay in the top flight, Dunne may have played his final game in the Premier League. Joey Barton, Dunne's team-mate at the London club, tweeted his support for the defender capped 80 times for Ireland. https://twitter.com/Joey7Barton/status/564444760933675008