Arteta pulled up with the injury early on against Birmingham and was replaced

David Moyes fears Mikel Arteta could be out for a "few weeks" after the Everton midfielder appeared to suffer a hamstring injury against Birmingham.

The Spaniard limped off having played only seven minutes of the 1-1 draw and was replaced by Seamus Coleman.

Everton are already without injured midfielders Marouane Fellaini, Tim Cahill and Phil Neville.

"It looks like a hamstring injury. I'm guessing he'll be out for a few weeks," boss Moyes told the club website.

Birmingham, too, suffered an injury setback when midfielder David Bentley limped off after eight minutes with a muscle strain.

"Maybe it was a kicking strain he picked up before the game, but I don't know how long he'll be out for," said Birmingham manager Alex McLeish.

Birmingham took the lead when Jean Beausejour headed in after 17 minutes before Johnny Heitinga equalised for Everton with a brilliant curling effort from the edge of the area.

Apart from the goal, Birmingham created very few chances during a match that Everton dominated possession.

However, McLeish was delighted that his team's performance had improved from the 3-1 defeat at home to West Bromwich last week.

"We wanted to be more compact today. We were too open against West Brom," added the Scot.

"We defended well but didn't penetrate after a bright start. I would like to compliment my team on their battling qualities."

The victory moved Birmingham one place above the relegation places and ahead of West Ham on goal difference.

McLeish believes the relegation battle will go to the final round of fixtures.

"It'll be tough and will go right down to the wire," he added.

His opposite number Moyes rued his side's lack of creativity but said he was pleased with the overall performances from his team during the last three league games.

"We played better in the second half than we did in the first," he said.

"We didn't have the quality to turn good play into goals. We lacked creativity but we've known about it for a while.

"The team have managed seven points from nine. The players have dug deep and got good results."

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