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Charles and McCann have formed an exciting midfield partnership, starting alongside each other in all four of Northern Ireland’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers to date, while Spencer was drafted in for a clash against Germany following Conor Bradley’s suspension. While Charles left Southampton’s 2-1 Championship defeat to Blackburn Rovers after 81 minutes and Spencer lasted only 22 minutes of Oxford United’s away victory at Sheffield Wednesday, McCann didn’t feature at all for Preston North End this weekend. Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom confirmed McCann has broken his arm after taking a blow during Tuesday’s defeat to Birmingham City. “He's broken his arm when he did that on Tuesday night,” said Heckingbottom. “We've had an x-ray... just really sore. "He's had an x-ray tonight so he's got his arm in a sling. No (to knowing when he might be able to play with a cast on). He’s seeing the specialist on Monday.” There was also serious concern from Saints boss Will Still regarding Charles’ fitness with the 21-year-old the only Southampton player to start in every Championship fixture this season. "We knew that a few players couldn't play 90 minutes, and I think Shea Charles is probably the perfect example of that," he said after the match. "We didn't want him to play 90 minutes; we knew he couldn't, but we didn't really have many options, and we've let ourselves down. "He's pulled his hamstring. It doesn't look great." Northern Ireland will finish off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a trip to Slovakia (November 14) before hosting Luxembourg (November 17) at Windsor Park.
