The United States midfielder was substituted at half-time during Sunday’s 3-0 league victory and was using the aid of crutches as a precaution.
The World Cup winner will not feature in Wednesday’s Champions League Round of 32 first leg trip to Goteborg.
And a subsequent scan has now confirmed that Lavelle will be sidelined for a ‘short spell’.
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“Crutches were a precaution so it probably looked worse. Hopefully, it’s not too bad,” City boss Gareth Taylor said ahead of the scan.
“We were trying to get her into a decent vein of consistency.
“We had to be mindful of Rose’s existing problems. She’s had a few niggles and she was limited in what she could do on USA camp.
“If you compare Rose’s situation with Sam Mewis’, we got Sam a little bit earlier to the Club and once she gained a decent level of fitness, she hit the ground running.
“It’s not ideal but she’s resilient and she’ll bounce back.”
There was better news regarding Lauren Hemp’s return from injury, as the forward gained her first minutes of the season at Everton, following a hamstring injury.
Taylor explained the PFA Young Player of the Year will be introduced back into action gradually, adding he has no new injury concerns.
“The squad is in pretty good shape,” he continued.
“We need to manage Lauren Hemp in the right way.
“It’s great to have her back but to expect her to be involved in four games in 14 days is going to be too much.
“Outside of that and Rose’s injury, we don’t look too bad.
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“We’ve made a decision on what it looks like in the next four games.
“We have a plan in place. That could change with injuries – we didn’t want Rose to be injured but we will deal with it in the right manner.
“(On the hectic schedule) I love it to be honest but I don’t have to play in those games! Although I’m pretty sure the players prefer having games.
“I prefer it this way. Bar a few knocks, we have a squad capable of coping
“We want everyone to be available and we’ll give a good account of ourselves in all games – not just on Wednesday.”
City’s 2020/21 Champions League campaign kicks off on Wednesday with a Round of 32 first leg trip to Swedish Champions Göteborg FC.
Taylor believes the Damallsvenskan winners to be the most difficult opponents his side could have faced and is eager to see how his squad fare, especially with the hosts having not played a game for a month.
“This is the toughest tie we could have got in terms of the teams available,” he declared.
“They’re an aggressive team in the way they press and quite a direct team at times. We’ve identified a couple of areas in which we could gain success.
“It’s similar to the Everton game – we have a gameplan and model we can execute but it still comes down to basics: doing them really well in order to stay in the game.
“We can certainly take confidence (from the fact they haven’t played for a month). It wouldn’t be ideal for us – not playing and losing players.
“I still expect a tough game on their patch. It won’t be easy. We can’t control that we’re playing on a plastic pitch.
“We’ve done it this season and hopefully, everyone comes through unscathed.
“Most players have been in this position, playing on these surfaces but in terms of preparation, do we train on it or is it better staying off?
“It will be interesting to see what it’s like when we train on Tuesday.
“We have technical players, which will hopefully help. Hopefully, we’ll get a truer pass and not too many bobbles.
“To go far in this competition, you have to beat decent teams.
“We’ll be putting all efforts in and then we’ll look to be ready for Arsenal on Sunday.
“I’m excited for it – to see how we do.”
