O'Neil was captaining the England U21s when, in injury time, he came together with Newcastle's James Milner. Although at first it was believed he would recover quickly, now it appears far more serious - indeed, there are whispers of a fractured eye socket and the England physios have since confirmed he will definitely miss Tuesday night's match against Azerbaijan.
Although overlooked and sent out on loan under Harry Redknapp O'Neil has become more and more an important part of the team under Velimir Zajec, although he was left out of the starting line-up against Newcastle United last weekend. In his absence, hopefully the now fully recovered Richard Hughes can step up and produce a good performance in the relegation six pointer at Craven Cottage this coming weekend.