Southampton fear they could be without star striker Charlie Austin for an extended period after he was forced off in their Europa League defeat to Hapoel Beer Sheva with a shoulder injury on Thursday.
Austin lasted 39 minutes of Southampton’s 1-0 defeat in midweek before being replaced by Shane Long with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
The 27-year-old will undergo tests before the true extent of his injury is revealed on Friday, with Austin now almost certainly ruled out for the remainder of the year.
“Charlie has a shoulder injury and we will see about this,” talkSPORT quote Puel as saying after the match on Thursday. “I don’t know how long he will be out but he’s important for us.
“I’m not sure if it’s dislocated. I don’t know about that but he cannot play for the next game of course. We will assess him in the next few days.
“We have Shane Long, Jay Rodriguez, Dusan Tadic and Sofiane Boufal; it’s important to work with all the players.”
Austin has been a regular goalscorer for Southampton this season and his absence would be a huge miss over the festive period where fixtures come thick and fast.
In fact, only Jermain Defoe (53%) has played a larger hand in his team’s goals in the Premier League this season than Austin (46.2%).
For more stats on Charlie Austin, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
