Derby County forward Sam Szmodics has been ruled out for six weeks with a knee injury that requires surgery.

The 31-year-old limped off in the second half of Tuesday's 4-0 home defeat by Norwich City.

Losing this season's top-scorer Szmodics until at least mid-December, which could see him miss as many as eight matches, adds to the mounting injury crisis at the East Midlands club.

Defenders Matt Clarke, Sondre Langas, Craig Forsyth, Eiran Cashin and Derry Murkin are out, while United States striker Patrick Agyemang is still recovering from an Achilles tendon injury.

"Sam has been playing through a knee injury. A lot of the players we have at the moment are going through difficult moments to get through 90 minutes, you can see the squad is very, very thin," Eustace told BBC Radio Derby.

"To lose a player of Sam Szmodics' quality, although he has been playing about three quarters fit anyway, is a huge loss to us."