Claude Puel has confirmed that he will be without seven of his squad when his side take on Inter Milan at St Mary's Stadium on Thursday.

Saints will be without seven of the squad on Thursday evening, however the good news is that only one of them is new

Shane Long, Jeremy Pied, Cedric Soares & Matt Targett have all been out for varying times and they are joined by Alex McCarthy & Jake Hesketh who picked up injuries in the last week with the only new knock being Harrison Reed who picked up an injury in the U23 defeat to Derby earlier in the week.

That suggests that Puel will at least have Jay Rodriguez back after missing Sunday's game against Chelsea after picking up a head injury against Sunderland in the League cup.

This will give Saints another option up front something tat they lacked against Chelsea on Sunday.

It still gives Puel a good squad to pick from as in reality only Soares and Long of the seven would be in real contention for a place in the starting line up had they been fit.

Photo: Action Images

vanmans added 09:12 - Nov 3 He needs to put out his strongest team tonight and rest the players on Sunday when we play Hull. He should have put out a stronger team last time we played Inter Milan they were there for the taking.
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bstokesaint added 12:27 - Nov 3 To be honest that storyline is a lot scarier than the list suggests. Only Shane Long is currently a big miss, with the rest being short on game time already. We really need a win tonight, although a draw wouldn't be a disaster. I don't even want to contemplate defeat as the group dynamic would definitely not change for the better, especially if Prague win. Would be a huge ask from there.

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bstokesaint added 12:29 - Nov 3 Vanmans, I don't think the team we played away was weak. We just wasted too many good opportunities to score. VVD had a sitter and Jay Rod should have at least one.
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BUCK added 12:55 - Nov 3 Tonight will be a lot more aggressive pressure. I can't see anything else but a 2 or possibly 3-0 win. I'd put my house on it
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bstokesaint added 12:57 - Nov 3 Where'd you live Buck? :) Hope you're right. I think maybe 1-0 or 1-1. It's going to be tight.
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