Cyrus Christie is the first player to be ruled of the provisional Republic of Ireland squad to play Austria after he revealed he will miss a minimum of three months because of injury.
The Derby County defender was forced off early in the second half after picking up an ankle knock in the first period of their 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
He said on Twitter this afternoon that he was “gutted to be out for a minimum of three months” and “will see the surgeon some point this week to check there is no more damage and get a return time”.
Paul McShane is likely to be the Ireland player to benefit if manager Martin O’Neill opts not to make any more call-ups to the initial 35-man squad.
Christie's misfortune will come as a blow to manager Martin O'Neill, who is already without strike duo Shane Long and Daryl Murphy and has doubts over a series of other players.
John O'Shea, Stephen Ward and James McCarthy are all struggling with hamstring problems, the latter's injury the topic of an increasingly bitter debate between the Republic boss and Everton counterpart Ronald Koeman, while Stephen Quinn is nursing a sore knee.
The squad was due to meet up in Dublin on Monday evening to begin preparations for Saturday's Group D clash in Vienna with Dundalk duo Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle hoping to make the cut when the initial 35-man party is reduced.
Gutted to be out for a minimum of 3 months will see the surgeon some point this week to check there is no more damage and get a return time pic.twitter.com/QLJ66iK2dn
— Cyrus Christie (@cyruschristie) November 7, 2016
