Southampton Without At Least 10 Players For Chelsea Clash
Tuesday, 3rd Dec 2024 09:12
Saints are looking to make it two games unbeaten in the Premier League for the first time this season, but just as they look to build on their first away point of the season, the squad is hit with injury & suspensions.
Russell Martin must be quoting the catchphrase of a one of his predecessors this week as he finds himself "down to the bare bones" after injury & suspensions have decimated his squad for the visit of Chelsea to St Mary's.
Definitely out are the 3 players that picked up their 5th booking of the season at Brighton on Friday night, Tyler Dibling, Flynn Downes & Taylor Harwood-Bellis, arguably the 3 most consistent performers in the team this season.
Also missing will be loanee Lesley Ugochukwu who is unable to play against his parent club.
The injury list is also large and Saints will be without goalkeepers Aaron Ramsdale & Gavin Bazunu plus midfielders Will Smallbone & Adam Lallana who will all definitely miss the game as will longer term casualties, Juan Larios & Ross Stewart.
That is 10 players who will all definitely be missing on Wednesday evening, but it could yet be worse.
Jan Bednarek has been out for several weeks after returning injured from International duty with Poland and likewise Tall Paul Onuachu who missed the game at Brighton after getting injured in the Liverpool game.
Russell Martin has been saying positive words about their return for this game, but this could just be psychological games, in the past he has often said that players were on the verge of a return when the truth is they are far from it, indeed Tall Paul was supposedly in contention for the trip to Brighton.
So it could be 12 down on Wednesday evening and these are just the injuries that we know about, there could well be players in the squad who have picked up niggling injuries that have not been disclosed or have fallen out with the manager.
Charlie Taylor for instance hasn't played in the Premier League since the defeat to Leicester on the 19th October and in that time has only been an unused sub once, that in the Carabao Cup win over Stoke City, this seems to indicate a rift in the camp between player and manager.
Likewise Armel Bella Kotchap who has appeared just once, that being back in August also in the Carabao Cup at Cardiff, both are experienced players that we could well do with now.
So the final roll call of missing players for Wednesday evening could be as many as 14 players missing from the squad to face Chelsea and this does not bode well, but sometimes football teams under the cosh find a fighting spirit and that is the straw we will need to clutch at St Mary's this week.
All Photos Via Reuters
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