Republic of Ireland have been boosted by the return to fitness of James McClean and John O'Shea for their World Cup Qualifier against Austria on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 4.45pm.

Both players had been doubts for the match in Vienna, but after training on Thursday they should be available.

Ireland are level on points with Group D leaders Serbia and only trail on goal difference.

They have won their last two qualifying matches against Georgia and Moldova, but have not beaten Austria in their previous eight meetings.

"We need to be at our best to get a result," said Republic of Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane. "It's a tough game, they're a good team and they've got good players playing at a very good level."

Live International Football: FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers

Although they boast Bayern Munich's David Alaba and Stoke's Marko Arnautovic in their ranks, Austria have made a stuttering start to their qualifying campaign.

They beat Georgia in their opening match but then drew with Wales and lost to Serbia to leave them on four points.

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While McClean and O'Shea should be fit for the visitors, Leeds' Eunan O'Kane has returned to his club due to a groin problem.

Ireland are also without Shane Long, James McCarthy and Daryl Murphy.

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Austria will be missing goalkeeper Robert Almer, midfielder Zlatko Junuzovic and defender Sebastian Prodl.

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These two nations have met 14 times before with Austria leading the way with nine victories to Republic of Ireland's two (D3).

The Republic's last victory over Austria came in October 1963, running out 3-2 winners in a Euro 1964 qualifier.

Martin O'Neill's side have found the back of the net in 18 of their last 19 fixtures, only drawing a blank against Belgium at Euro 2016.

Ireland's last 10 goals have been scored by eight different players (McClean, two, Walters, two, Long, Coleman, Murphy, Hendrick, Keane and Brady).

Arnautovic has scored with two of his three shots on target in World Cup 2018 qualification

Charlie predicts

This is a tough game, although the thing about Austria is they're lacking a star name and you can frustrate them.

I always feel like Martin O'Neill is an attacking manager that looks for weaknesses. The Republic of Ireland are strong defensively as well with Roy Keane instilling the discipline.

A guy who doesn't impress me a lot of the time for his club but is great for his country is James McClean. He is that annoying player that just pops up at the back post and is always there to feed off the scraps.

Wes Hoolahan is the one that has the quality though. He's taken a long time to really be a big part of the Ireland set-up but is delivering on a regular basis now.

Charlie predicts: 0-1 and Hoolahan to score (60/1 with Sky Bet)