James McCarthy has emerged as a major injury doubt for the Republic of Ireland's World Cup play-off with Denmark next month after tweaking his hamstring.

Everton's interim manager David Unsworth confirmed on Sunday that McCarthy had missed the Toffees' 2-0 defeat to Leicester City with what he described as 'a little tweak.'

The 25-year-old made his first appearances in almost eight months during Wednesday's EFL Cup defeat to Chelsea, playing the final 26 minutes from the bench.

However scans on Friday revealed that the 41-times-capped international had picked up a slight strain Unsworth estimates will see him out for 'a couple of weeks.'

“Unfortunately, after the Chelsea game he got a little tweak,” the former Everton defender said.

“We got it scanned on Friday and there’s a little strain there. That’s going to be a couple of weeks [on the sidelines], which is disappointing because he’s a big player for us.”

McCarthy hasn't played a game for his country since last October's 3-1 win away in Moldova, having pulled out of March's meeting with Wales during the warm-up.

The first leg of Ireland's play-off with Denmark takes place on Saturday, November 11^th, leaving McCarthy fighting against the clock to recover in time.