One of the highlights, if you can say their were any, of the last few months, was the arrival from Arsenal of Aaron Ramsdale, but now comes some terrible news, that he has injured a finger.
If Southampton supporters thought that this week could not get any worse, came the news that perhaps the one player in the team who we could not afford to lose to injury, has seemingly fractured a finger.
Football clubs are very coy about injured players, preferring to keep the opposition in the dark, but Saints have taken the rare step of an official announcement on this one, saying :
"Aaron Ramsdale has been forced to withdraw from the latest England squad due to injury.
"The goalkeeper will miss the Nations League contests against Greece and Republic of Ireland due to an injury picked up in Saturday’s Premier League game against Wolves.
"Ramsdale will now remain with the medical staff at Staplewood Campus over the international break."
Although the club have stopped short of actually confirming the nature of the injury , the The Daily Echo have claimed that it is a suspected fractured finger.
They go on to suggest that the club do not know the full extent of the injury but it will require surgery, but they do not give any timeline.
It is said that he injured the finger in the defeat on Saturday to Wolverhampton Wanderers, so given the two day gap between the end of the game and the announcement, it would be very surprising if the club did not know the full extent by now.
A look at other keepers who have suffered such injuries would suggest 4-6 weeks out, if the worst fears are confirmed, with the only good news being that 2 of those weeks will be without fixtures due to the International break.
This is a blow for Ramsdale who had just regained his place in the England squad , but an even bigger blow to Saints.
So when the club return to action against top of the league Liverpool on the 24th November, it seems that Alex McCarthy will return between the sticks.
McCarthy played the first two Premier League games of the season, both 1-0 defeats, before Ramsdale arrived to play in the 3rd game of the season at Brentford.
Since then,in the last 3 months he has played just once, a 1-1 draw in the Carabao Cup at Everton where he was the hero of the hour in the penalty shootout., but even that was two months ago, so he is a bit rusty.