Ben Davies says threat of suspension will not hold back Wales in Ireland qualifier

Ben Davies insists Wales are not bothered by the threat of World Cup suspension hanging over five of their players on Friday night.

Davies along with Gareth Bale, skipper Ashley Williams, Joe Allen and Joe Ledley is one booking away from missing the trip to Serbia in June.

The Tottenham defender has painful experience of the disciplinary threshold, having missed the Euro 2016 semi-final defeat to Portugal through suspension.

He said: "We haven't discussed the bookings. But I think everyone's aware what position they are in if yellow cards do come.

"You can't let a yellow card hang over you. If you think about it during the game then it will affect your performance on the field.

Wales are unbeaten in Group D but have ground to make up following successive draws against Austria, Georgia and Serbia.

The Republic of Ireland are currently four points better off than Wales and another Republic victory at the halfway stage of the group could end Wales' interest in claiming top spot.

"We haven't said it's a 'must-win' ourselves," Davies said.

"But we understand the importance of it because we can't drift any further away from the top of the table if we want to qualify.

"We have experience of these games of massive magnitude where we need to get a result."

Davies returns after missing the November draw against Serbia through injury, and Wales are also delighted to call upon Bale and Aaron Ramsey after recent injury scares.

"It's pretty rare this campaign that everybody's been here," Davies said.

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"It's massive for us to have Gareth and Aaron, you saw in the summer how important they are. It gives us a spark as a team.

"It's also nice to see there's some good young players coming through like Ben Woodburn and Harry Wilson.

"They've impressed the boys in training this week and everyone's confident ahead of what we know is a big game."

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