Marc Wilson’s Euro hopes in doubt after injury

The injury bulletin from Selhurst Park on Saturday was a worrying one for Ireland manager Martin O’Neill, with Mark Hughes fearing Marc Wilson’s knee injury is so serious, he may have to sign a replacement today.

Wilson collapsed clutching his knee in the closing moments of Stoke’s 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Crystal Palace, and Hughes confirmed afterwards the damage was significant.

“We’ve got bad news with Marc Wilson.

“We’re a little bit stretched at the back.

“Marc looks like he’s got a bad knee injury, the physio thinks he’s got medial ligament damage so he’s going to be out for a period of maybe 10-12 weeks unfortunately.

“The injury might force our hand because we are bit threadbare with Ryan Shawcross injured, Geoff Cameron unavailable and Marc Muniesa only just coming back into the team. So we might have to do a short-term thing.”

A three-month lay-off would keep Wilson out of action until the closing weeks of the Premier League campaign and leave him with a race to be fit and sharp enough for Ireland’s opening Euro 2016 fixture with Sweden on June 13.