Sofiane Boufal is a doubt to Wednesday evening's game against Noriwch City with his toe injury still playing him up.

Sofiane Boufal has suffered a bad reaction to his toe after coming off the bench against Watford and is a doubt for the visit of Norwich City after having to miss training.

However, Ralph Hasenhuttl has revealed his toe had had a bad reaction to the game.

“I must say that it’s getting worse and this isn’t a good signal. After the game, the reaction wasn’t the best one.

“Tomorrow will be difficult I think. He might be on the bench but not from the beginning.

“This isn’t a positive message, but maybe he won’t train today I think.

“There is still pain and we will have to have a look. The rest of the team is ok.”

That is not great news for Saints, however Boufal seems to have the greatest impact coming of the bench, he seems to play in short bursts and when he starts he invariably struggles to be consistent throughout the 90 minutes, but off the bench is a different matter.

His late winner wonder goal against West Brom a couple of seasons ago came after his 81st minute introduction as a sub and he seems best suited to short spells of high impact play.

I suspect that Boufal will play some part in tomorrow night's game, but I think Ralph Hasenhuttl will prefer not to use him if he can to tray and give the injury a little time to heal.

Photo: Action Images

HythePeer added 13:39 - Dec 3 That's a shame cos he's a shoe-in. 🤣
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Ripleys_revenge added 14:49 - Dec 3 Frustrating, but you make a good point about Sofiane as an impact player. I even noticed on Saturday he was knackered heading into injury time - he barely had the energy to pressure a Watford player after a shaky clearance from one of our boys. I was surprised at that, given he'd only been on the pitch 25 mins. So whilst he'll be missed from the start tomorrow, he is maybe best suited to coming off the bench and ripping tired defences apart. Can't stop watching that clip of him utterly destroying some poor Watford defender on Saturday - the back heel followed by the nutmeg was just outrageous. Him and Djenepo on top form on either wing is a hugely exciting prospect, if we could get them playing like that regularly with Ings up top we would suddenly look very threatening

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underweststand added 15:46 - Dec 3 I think some people criticise players " who can't last 90 minutes", but it's really down to the impact they make when they are in the game. Boufal certainly was a breath of fresh air on Saturday, and lifted the team and the crowd. Shane Long put himself about (and showed us another two ways how NOT to score) and Djenepo came alive when we started attacking more in the second half. For all the criticisms JWP has had he DAJFU when it was vital to do so.. We've had a string of not-so-special signings who played 90 minutes every week and contributed little or nothing to the team. I'd be happy to see a lively 30 minutes of Boufal every week instead of expecting him to run himself into the ground for 96 minutes week in and week out. He's the sort of impact player who can turn a game - and we need that.

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Colburn added 16:24 - Dec 3 It was worth the risk on Saturday, hopefully we wont need him tomorrow if we play with the same intensity we did in the last half an hour on Saturday. Its fair to say he has been better as an impact sub but I don't recall him ever playing 6 or 7 games on the bounce to get him to the levels of fitness to play 90 mins. Either way, he has sublime skill and bravely confident enough to use it. He's unstoppable on his day, a genie only half out of the bottle at the moment, more to come if we keep faith in him.

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saintmark1976 added 19:08 - Dec 3 Not to worry. Boufal not starting will no doubt at least give Redmond a further opportunity to showcase his skills. Who knows, he may even add to his total of 15 goals from his previous 112 appearances?
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