Republic of Ireland defender Ciaran Clark has expressed his desire to start the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Sweden and Austria.

Clark has appeared regularly for club side Aston Villa so far this season and has also started his country's last two games - a 1-0 defeat to Greece and a 2-0 win over Poland.

However, John O'Shea, Sean St Ledger and Darren O'Dea are all in contention for a starting berth as well, and Clark insists that whoever plays will do their best to secure all three points for Ireland.

Asked if he felt that he deserved to start, Clark said: "I would like to think so.

"You can only do what's been asked. To get the clean sheet was obviously good for us in the last game, and especially to get the win.

"But no matter who plays, they will go out and they will give it their best and hopefully we will do enough to get the three points."

Ireland are currently third in their World Cup qualifying group, one point behind Sweden in second and four behind Germany.