Clapham had been on cloud nine after scoring his first goal in nearly three years with City following his move from Ipswich in the January 2003 transfer window.

But he was forced to limp out of the action in the latter part of the game to add to Bruce’s selection worries ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge.

David Dunn (thigh), Mikael Forrsell (thigh), Julian Gray (ankle) and Stan Lazaridis (illness) are all doubtful while on loan Jiri Jarosik is ineligible to play.

Bruce admitted: “Clapham has hurt his knee. He is going to have an x-ray but it is not looking very clever. It’s all we need to add to our other problems.

“Lazaridis called off sick on Wednesday, Gray hurt his ankle against Tottenham, Dunn hurt his thigh against West Ham and has tried to shake it off but unfortunately he can’t.”

Dunn has had an injury-wrecked 12 months after undergoing back surgery in January and Bruce is determined he will only return to action when fully fit.

Bruce said: “We have decided he needs to make sure he is right before he comes back. We all want him to play, he wants to play but he is not 100% right. How long will Dunny be out? We don’t know.

“He has played three times in two years. I don’t know how long he will be out and that goes for Mikael Forssell as well.

“We’ve got the busy Christmas programme and we’ve got five or six of them who we have huge problems with. Jarosik also can’t play against Chelsea. Apart from that......everything’s fine!”