Northern Ireland v Austria: Southampton defender Chris Baird looks in danger of missing tonight's qualifier against Austria after pulling out of training yesterday.

Baird has been in some discomfort since the weekend, when he suffered a badly bruised ankle in the 0-0 draw against Azerbaijan in Baku. He missed training for the second successive day and assistant manager Gerry Armstrong said: "Chris has to be doubtful for the game against Austria."

Left wing-back Mark Clyde's fitness will also be monitored in the next 24 hours as he suffered an ankle problem during training. Sunderland defender George McCartney is likely to step in.

Preston striker David Healy looks certain to start up front in the encounter at Windsor Park after serving a one-match ban.

With seven goals in nine games he is enjoying a hot streak at international level since manager Lawrie Sanchez took charge.

Northern Ireland's hopes of qualifying are already hanging by a thread after only two points were gained from the first three games.

Nothing less than a victory against Austria will do and Sanchez is looking for Wales to do his side a favour and beat second-placed Poland at the Millennium Stadium.

That would bunch up the play-off contenders behind England. Sanchez expects Sven-Goran Eriksson's men to comfortably beat Azerbaijan and go on and win the group with an unbeaten record.

Sanchez said: "If we beat Austria and Wales defeat Poland there would be only one point separating second from fourth in the table. That would keep everything alive. We want second place and the rest is nowhere.

"We need to get to half-time without conceding a goal. That will mean being a bit tentative at the start then building from there."