Ashton was due to make his belated England debut this week but has now withdraw from Steve McClaren's squad however the fact that West Ham will be without their talismanic striker for another crucial period in their Premiership campaign will be of bigger concern to Hammers fans.
Hammers Head physio George Cooper confirmed "We received the results of Dean's scan and they were what we expected which is that he had sprained the upper third of his medial ligament. In the majority of cases it will take up to six weeks for full recovery."