SAM Allardyce last night confirmed that Michael Owen is almost certain to miss England's forthcoming European Championships qualifiers with Estonia and Russia because of a "three-centimetre tear in his adductor muscle".

And as if the loss of his leading striker was not bad enough, the Magpies manager also claimed that the Metropolitan Police's refusal to re-schedule last night's Carling Cup third-round tie with Arsenal had been a contributory factor to Newcastle's subsequent 2-0 defeat.

Owen will travel to Munich tomorrow for a preliminary meeting with leading German groin surgeon Ulrike Muschaweck. If, as expected, a new set of scans reveal the striker's groin problem has developed into a double hernia injury, he will be booked in for an operation on Friday.

Muschaweck has pioneered a revolutionary 'minimal repair technique' to treat his hernia victims and, two seasons ago, former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer was sidelined for just two weeks after undergoing a similar operation.

But while a fortnight-long lay-off would not necessarily rule Owen out of England's Euro 2008 qualifiers on October 13 and 17, Allardyce has admitted that the 27-year-old is extremely unlikely to be fit enough to represent his country.

"Michael has a three-centimetre tear in his adductor muscle and will see a specialist on Thursday to decide whether he will need a hernia operation or not," confirmed the Magpies manager.

"Whoever does the surgery won't be able to say whether he definitely needs an operation or not until he sees him. Unless of course he's magic and he can peer into his stomach over here from Germany.

"How long will he be out for? Probably three weeks. I would have thought he'll miss England, but he'd miss those games with his groin anyway, so we might as well check whether he needs a hernia operation or not while he's out for three weeks with his adductor tear."

As expected, Owen was left out of the Newcastle squad that crashed out of the Carling Cup at the Emirates Stadium. The Magpies battled gamely for more than 80 minutes, with Allardyce's decision to revert to a five-man midfield helping to successfully stifle Arsenal's attacking play.

But their efforts counted for nothing once Nicklas Bendtner exploited some atypical hesitancy on the edge of the six-yard box and, after Obafemi Martins passed up a glorious opportunity for an equaliser, Denilson fired in a long-range second.

Having played in the Premier League on Sunday, Newcastle had attempted to get last night's game put back 24 hours but, with Tottenham taking on Middlesbrough in north London this evening, the Metropolitan Police turned down their request.

"The biggest disappointment was that we were forced into playing the game tonight in the first place," said Allardyce. "In the end, we had a fatigued set of players that couldn't run any more.

"As good as Arsenal were on the night, they found us difficult to break down. But in the end, we were victims of the situation we were put in and they finally capitalised on that.

"We tried to get the game changed, but ran into a brick wall. I believe the police said we couldn't. That wouldn't have happened in the North-West, and I believe they have more police in London than up there."

Martins' second-half miss followed two more spurned opportunities in the first half and, while Allardyce pleaded extenuating circumstances, he also admitted that the Nigerian's profligacy had contributed to Newcastle's defeat.

"We're disappointed that Oba isn't sitting here with the match ball," he conceded. "Those three gilt-edged chances were the reason we didn't take it into at least extra-time.