Injury headache for Hallgrímsson

Iceland’s preparations for their crunch Euro 2020 qualifier against France have been disrupted by a string of injuries.

Manager Heimir Hallgrímsson is already without captain Aron Gunnarsson and key defender Ragnar Sigurdsson, and now he has lost Birkir Bjarnason and Alfred Finnbogason to injury. Bjarnason, who plays his club football for Aston Villa, has a hamstring injury, while Finnbogason, who plays for Augsburg, has a knee problem. The injuries leave Hallgrímsson with a selection headache ahead of the match against world champions France in Reykjavik on Monday.

Iceland are currently second in Group H, three points behind leaders France with two games remaining.

They need to beat France to keep their hopes of automatic qualification alive, but they will be without several key players.

Hallgrímsson will be hoping that some of his injured players can recover in time for the match, but he may have to make do with a weakened team.

It is a major blow for Iceland, who have been in impressive form in recent years. They reached the quarter-finals of the 2016 European Championship and qualified for the 2018 World Cup, where they were knocked out in the group stage.

Despite the injuries, Iceland will still be confident of getting a result against France.

They have a good record against the world champions, having drawn with them in both of their previous meetings.