Motherwell's Stephen Pearson to miss up to seven weeks

Stephen Pearson was injured against Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Motherwell midfielder Stephen Pearson is expected to be out for as much as seven weeks with a knee injury.

Pearson was injured during a 1-0 Scottish Premiership win at Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 1 August.

He was hurt in a challenge with Gary Warren, who broke his ankle.

"There's a tear on his cartilage and some minor damage to the lateral ligament, but not the cruciate ligament," said boss Ian Baraclough. "It's not as bad as we first feared."

Pearson returned for his second spell with Motherwell in January after leaving Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters.

The 32-year-old made 17 appearances last season as Well avoided relegation from the Scottish Premiership with a play-off victory over Rangers.

"He'll probably be out for five, six, seven weeks," said Baraclough.

"But thankfully there are two international breaks in that period, so he won't miss too many games."

Having missed Saturday's 2-0 defeat by Dundee United, Pearson will next be absent as Well travel to Edinburgh on Wednesday to face Hearts.

"Pearo has been a quick healer in the past and he goes and does all the right things - lives his life right and will want to be on there as soon as possible," added Baraclough.

"I'll try to involve him as much as possible. Pearo doesn't know it yet, but he'll probably go and watch a couple of games for me, so he'll have a big role to play for us and we'll get him back as soon as possible."