England captain Jonny Wilkinson looks set to miss the autumn Tests as a result of his latest injury.

Wilkinson's club Newcastle today confirmed their star fly-half will be sidelined for between four and six weeks because of a haematoma in his upper right arm. He suffered a muscle bleed in his upper arm during the start of the season, and then took a hit on the same spot in the Premiership game against Wasps 11 days ago.

Newcastle rugby director Rob Andrew said: "We've received medical advice this week and spoken at length with Jonny and, as always, we are doing what is in the best interests of the player.

"This is unfortunate, following on from his previous injury, but it is not related at all to that one. We will just let him recover over the next few weeks and then get him back on the field again.

"We are obviously disappointed that Jonny will be out for a while, but we are lucky in that we already have an international fly-half ready to come in with having Dave Walder in our squad.

"We know that he will do an excellent job for us there, as he has done in the past."

England kick off their autumn programme against Canada at Twickenham on November 13, and it looks certain that Wilkinson will miss that game, plus the subsequent appointments with South Africa and Australia.

England coach Andy Robinson is aware of the situation, but at this stage is awaiting further developments on how Wilkinson responds to treatment.

"This is disappointing but we'll wait and see how Jonny responds to treatment in the next few weeks. I am not discounting him yet for next month's internationals."

But it is another setback for Robinson, who was appointed last week as full-time successor to England's World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward.

Robinson has already lost star flanker Richard Hill for both the autumn Tests and RBS 6 Nations Championship, while hooker Steve Thompson is battling a rib problems and Lawrence Dallaglio has become the latest World Cup winner to retire from international rugby. Wilkinson was sidelined for eight months this year as he recovered from a career-threatening neck and shoulder problem that required surgery.

The 25-year-old made his comeback in August, and subsequently started all seven of Newcastle's Zurich Premiership games this season.

He will now miss though Falcons' Heineken Cup opener against the Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade on Saturday, and it is likely that his long-awaited England return will not happen until the Six Nations. Robinson has a ready-made replacement for the fly-half role in Sale Sharks' Charlie Hodgson, but finding an alternative skipper might prove more difficult.

He could possibly turn to Bath lock Steve Borthwick or his club colleague, centre Mike Tindall.