Phew! The mystery is over and - though there's good news and a bit of bad - I'm much happier than I was last week.

After two weeks of frustration because of the inexplicable swelling of my right knee, I went under the knife on Monday to get to the root of my trouble.

The surgeon discovered loose pieces of bone were causing inflammation around the knee and this was triggering the discomfort I felt when bending it.

Thankfully, all the fragments have been cleared out and the surgeon has indicated there's no need to worry because, on the whole, my knee is in sound shape.

My prognosis looks good but I'll be out of action for about four weeks. So, without any setbacks, I should be fit and raring to play again come late December or early January. It was great to hear they anticipate a speedy recovery since, with previous surgeries, I've been out for four to six weeks. I should rebound a bit quicker this time.

I'm really pleased to have got past this problem and to have got to the core of the matter. It's taken a load off my mind from bothering about what was going on inside my knee.

For days, the swelling had been going down then coming back up repeatedly so I knew something was wrong, though the joint didn't hurt when I ran or trained. Also, at certain times when I bent my knee, it felt stiff.

Given all this, the physiotherapist was quite happy for the surgeon to go in and have a look.

Now it's all history and I can concentrate on my rehabilitation.

For the next few days I'll be resting before I start any work with my knee. Obviously, I'll begin in the gym. The first thing will be to do a full bend as well as to strengthen the muscles around the knee - my quadricep, hamstrings, et cetera.

Thereafter, I'll gradually increase my workload - from jogging to three-quarter strides to outright sprinting.

Then it will be a question of rebuilding my fitness level and resuming training - a week or a few days - before I play in a reserve game.

Speaking about games, two are utmost in my mind at the moment: our 2-1 victory last Saturday against Watford and, of course, tonight's fourth-round, League Cup clash against Premiership leaders Chelsea.

Securing the points from Watford was extremely important as it pushed us up to sixth spot from ninth in the First Division. That's just about where any promotion-minded team wants to be at the turn of the year. We're right on cue.

I must admit it wasn't the best of matches but, at the end of the day, what matters is that we won.

On many occasions, teams play very entertaining football but lose. We cannot afford that now. The most crucial thing is to get the results and keep the points coming.

Our next league fixture is away to Wigan - another huge game. They were top of the division when we hosted them a few weeks ago but since then they have endured a bad run and slipped to fifth.

They will certainly want to get back in winning stride and, on top of that, they will be out to avenge their 2-1 loss when they visited us. One of their players was sent off in that game and some of them probably still feel it was a bad call and they will want to even the score, especially in front of their fans.

More immediately, however, is tonight's eagerly-awaited battle against Chelsea on our turf.

It's a massive game for the club. We have not had a big-name Premiership team come to Reading for some years. It's expected to bring in major revenue for the club but more importantly - from an on-field perspective - it will enable players and management to assess where we are.

Can we match the team that heads the Premiership? What are the differences? How far do we have to go to maintain our play against that level of opposition if we were to get promoted?

We have a lot of youngsters who have been branded as prospects for top-flight football and I'm sure they are eager to get at Chelsea and experience what it's like to take on the Blues.

I'm terribly disappointed to miss out because I love these big games against top teams. I'm not sure yet if I will attend but, if possible, I'd want to be there cheering on my team-mates against the London powerhouse.

It may come down to what the physio says is best for my knee; whether I'll be able to hack the coldness.

Regardless of if I'm there in person or not, I'll definitely be there in spirit.