The 23-year-old suffered a torn hamstring in last week's derby defeat to former club Burnley and will be sidelined for four weeks.

It's a big blow to North End who have missed his influence in the engine room, with their form taking a dip with him out of the team.

Chaplow first injured his hamstring in the goalless draw at Coventry last month, missing the following two matches – the win over Nottingham Forest and Wolves' 3-1 victory at Deepdale.

He returned among the substitutes at Turf Moor last week, but within minutes of being summoned from the bench to replace Darren Carter, he damaged the muscle again.

It sidelined him for Tuesday's loss to Swansea, and it looks like being the end of the month at the earliest before he's back.

One small consolation for PNE is that the fortnight's international break begins after today's visit to Watford.

Manager Alan Irvine said: "It's really unfortunate – the injury was another thing which went against us at Burnley last week.

"The very first run Richard made, he felt his hamstring tighten up.

"Having made all our substitutions it meant we couldn't do anything about it.

"Richard had to play on for the remainder of the game without being fully able to contribute.

"With hamstrings, no matter what you say, there is no truer test of them than a game.

"In training you can put on as many sessions as you like, but you are always running within yourself.

"Whereas when it happened at Burnley, Richard had to really chase back as fast as he could to catch up Michael Duff.

"He stopped quickly after that run and it was the stopping quickly which made his hamstring tighten up again."

Chaplow began the season so brightly, picking up the Championship player of the month award for August.

In his absence, Carter has deputised, and apart from a good display against Forest, he has struggled to make an impact.