Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard is only expected to miss two or three weeks after suffering a thigh injury.
The 31-year-old sustained the knock during an England training session on Thursday, and reports had suggested he might be sidelined for up to eight weeks.
Lampard returned home from Qatar on Friday, where the Three Lions are preparing for a friendly against Brazil, and the Chelsea medical staff revealed the injury is not as bad as first feared.
England manager Fabio Capello said: "I think he will be out for two or three weeks. It is a little problem with his muscle."
Capello also rebuffed claims that the injury was the result of cramped conditions on the flight over to Qatar.
Reports have suggested that a number of players complained of muscle pain when they touched down in the Middle East, after the team used a plane only intended for short-haul flights.
Lampard, who suffered a similar injury to his left thigh at the start of the 2007/08 campaign, could miss a number of games for Chelsea, with the Blues travelling to Arsenal at the end of November for a crunch Premier League clash.
Capello added: "I don't understand the problem.
"It was the same plane we used to go to Trinidad last year and also Kazakhstan this year. We didn't have any injuries then and we won both matches.
"Frank came to me and said he had suffered this problem before, which was why he had stopped running.
"It was best to let him go home but, I think, in two or three weeks, he will be okay to play again."