James McCarthy’s chances of playing in the World Cup play-off are in serious doubt

This doesn't bode well.

Republic Of Ireland and Everton player James McCarthy had been set to play in the Sunday afternoon Premier League match against Leicester City, having been named part of the starting eleven on Friday. However, when the match kicked off, McCarthy was nowhere to be seen. Following his team's 2-0 defeat, it was announced that McCarthy had picked up an injury in the time since the team's previous match, against Chelsea earlier this week. Match Of The Day and 5 Live commentator Conor McNamara spoke to Everton's care-taker manager David Unsworth about the injury received by McCarthy.

Just spoke to David Unsworth about James McCarthy’s latest injury. Says he’ll talk to Martin O’Neill about “what’s best for club & player.”

— Conor McNamara (@ConorMcNamaraIE) October 29, 2017

Unsworth says McCarthy’s injury is “nothing too severe... had a scan, he’s out for a couple of weeks”.

Ireland’s play-off is in 2 weeks. — Conor McNamara (@ConorMcNamaraIE) October 29, 2017

While nothing has been 100% confirmed yet, it does not look good for McCarthy to be involved in the play-off against Denmark next month. With the away trip set for Saturday 11 November in Copenhagen, Martin O'Neill must now be prepared to play without two of his central mid-fielders, following David Meyler's suspension for the first leg.