Hull winger Stephen Hunt has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a foot injury, the club have confirmed.
The 28-year-old, who has been out of action since February, had exploratory surgery on Monday, which revealed the extent of the injury.
Tigers boss Iain Dowie admitted that losing his top scorer was a "big blow" to Hull's chances of staying up.
Dowie's side are 19th in the Premier League and four points from safety with five games remaining.
Republic of Ireland international Hunt has not yet played under Dowie, who was tasked with saving the Yorkshire club from relegation when he was appointed in place of Phil Brown on 17 March.
Hunt, who signed a four-year deal when he joined from Reading last summer, joins other influential Tigers players Anthony Gardner and Kamil Zayatte on the sidelines but Dowie remains hopeful that he has enough quality left in his squad to avoid the drop.
"Hunt, Gardner and Zayatte have been great players for the team," said Dowie.
"But we have to get on with things and we need some big players to step up to the plate against Birmingham on Saturday."
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