EVERTON have suffered a major blow ahead of tonight’s Premier League trip to Hull City with the news that Phil Neville’s comeback hopes have been dashed.

The Goodison skipper underwent surgery to repair a cartilage tear in his injured knee yesterday and is expected to be out for another two to three weeks.

Neville has been sidelined since suffering the injury at Fulham back in September but had been pencilled in for a return to action this week.

However, the 32-year-old complained of stiffness in his knee and a scan revealed the cause of the discomfort.

Manager David Moyes admits losing Neville again is a bitter pill to swallow as Everton approach a vital week.

Tonight’s showdown at the KC Stadium is followed by Sunday’s derby at Goodison and a crunch Europa League clash away to AEK Athens next Wednesday.

Moyes said: “I’m disappointed because Phil is one of the players we knew was closest to coming back to helping us.

“We have a European game next week and a really tough period and we probably don’t have too many people due back in the near future.

“The tackle Phil had against Fulham did not require surgery. A scan showed there was a little bit of damage to his cartilage and he had micro-tears but the surgeon didn’t operate at the time as he thought it would heal by itself.

“Phil trained all last week with the players and has been good. He was close to playing against Manchester United and I thought he would probably have played somewhere this week.

“But he felt a bit stiff and last Friday they sent him for another scan that showed the micro-tears had become bigger.

“They were going to open him up on Tuesday afternoon to see what they need to do. I have got to the stage where I don’t even want to put a time scale on it now.”