Town centre-half Christophe Berra is facing four weeks out having suffered a hamstring injury in training earlier in the week, manager Mick McCarthy has confirmed.

“Christophe Berra is missing, as he was the other night [at Doncaster]. He was down to play for half a game along with Tommy Smith but he did his hamstring on Monday, so it’s going to be about four weeks before he’s back,” McCarthy said.

“We’ll look at whether he'll miss the games after the international break. Thankfully the break is coming at the right time for all of us who have had six games already and are making it seven on Saturday.

“It’s strange for Christophe, it’s the first time he’s ever had one, it’s a real surprise. But he will miss Saturday and he probably will miss the first game back.”

Josh Emmanuel looks set to be at right-back with skipper Luke Chambers moving into the centre alongside Tommy Smith. New addition Piotr Malarczyk’s signing won’t be completed in time for him to be involved.

Striker Daryl Murphy (calf) and midfielders Kevin Bru and Teddy Bishop (both hamstring) are also sidelined until after the international break, while Jonny Parr is not yet ready to return to the squad after his thigh problem and Luke Hyam is a long-term absentee having undergone knee surgery in the summer.

Keeper Bartosz Bialkowski is back with the squad having been in Poland following his father’s death last weekend and McCarthy confirmed that he would be in the squad and considered for selection.

Berra and Murphy are both ruled out of international action with Scotland and the Republic of Ireland respectively.

Photo: Action Images

Superblue95 added 15:49 - Aug 28 So Berra Murphy Bishop Bru Hyam and Parr are all injured now which would have been absolutely disastrous last season. This season we are so strong that we barely batter an eye lid. Fantastic transformation really
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jas0999 added 16:36 - Aug 28 Disappointing news and with many youngsters at the club, we are once again lacking senior options. Nothing against the youngsters by the way, just it's a big ask to play week in week out in the Championship. That said Yorwerth and Emmanuel have been impressive.
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carsey added 16:59 - Aug 28 Bugger it would be Berra wouldn't it. Still we will now see a full back in the full back slot and two centre backs playing in their preferred positions. Hope it works out for young Josh.
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TrumptonBlue added 17:15 - Aug 28 Hope this means opportunities for the young lads and/or Malarczyk rather than a stop-gap loanee.
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chepstowblue added 19:00 - Aug 28 I've every faith in our ability to cope with this but for me Berra is the only irreplaceable member of the squad,and i'll admit to being a tad worried. We'll be nowhere near as secure without him. Big loss.
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Warkys_Tash added 21:05 - Aug 28 Our best CB out. Bad news for this weekend, his reading of the game is second to none.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 21:09 - Aug 28 Can I be the third person to say "bugger"? No doubt this is a blow. But at least we have more cover than last season. Hopefully our new Pole will be up and running before too long.
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GiveusaWave added 22:36 - Aug 28 The Dunne link (which seemed implausible at the time) does seem much more realistic now. Emmanuel will almost certainly start for the Brighton game but expect to see Dunne (on some kind of coach/player basis) in the near future.
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1psw1ch added 13:44 - Aug 29 He berra be back in 4 weeks
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