James McCarthy is the latest Irish victim to fall victim to Premier League injury

The Premier League can be a cruel mistress.

We all racked our brains this afternoon for defensive replacements for Marc Wilson who limped off with a hamstring injury in Stoke's victory over Spurs. But now we've got a midfield crisis to go along with it as news has broken from Everton that James McCarthy could miss Ireland's game against Scotland on Friday.

Toffees boss Roberto Martinez said: “We are going to assess James. He was feeling his hamstring towards the end of the game but he wanted to stay on the pitch because we had used all three subs.

“It is a bit of a concern because he had the same injury a few weeks back when he missed the game against Manchester United and it is in that area. We are hoping that it is more fatigue than a soft tissue problem."

Hamstrings are single-handedly ruining Ireland's chances against Scotland and we're not the least bit happy about it.