WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS’ HOPES of Premier League survival have taken a major blow today with the news that star striker Kevin Doyle may sit out the rest of the season.

The Wexford man was carried off in the first half of Ireland’s 2-1 win over Macedonia on Saturday with suspected medial knee ligament damage. If the injury is confirmed it would rule him out of the remainder of the club campaign.

Earlier at Malahide, Giovanni Trapattoni said: “It’s his medial ligament. I think he may be out for one or two months, so it’s a very serious injury.

“I hope by May or June he can come back and we can have him for the match in Macedonia.”

Doyle has scored only five Premier League goals this season but has led the line admirably for Mick McCarthy.

Wolves defender Christophe Berra said: “It’s a massive blow for us, he’s a top player, he does a great job for us up front. But we’ve got good strikers on the bench in Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Steven Fletcher, who have come in this season and done well and scored goals for us.

“So we won’t be getting down about that, we’ll move on. I think it’s two points between six or eight teams and we’ve actually got better points this season than at the same point last season, so it shows our improvement.

“We’re a better team now, we play better football overall. As players, as individuals, we’ve improved. So we’ll go onwards and upwards. We’re four games unbeaten and we’ll be going away to Newcastle in high spirits.”

Doyle will have a scan on the knee ligament injury later today. He has reported back to his club.

Ireland v Macedonia: as it happened>