Thursday 19 September 2019 15:50, UK
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is hopeful Nathan Redmond can return to fitness in time to replace the injured Moussa Djenepo for his side's Friday Night Football clash with Bournemouth.
Djenepo, who scored the winning goal on his full Premier League debut at Sheffield United last weekend, has been ruled out with a muscular issue.
Redmond has not played since injuring his ankle in the EFL Cup tie against Fulham three weeks ago, but is on the verge of making his return as Southampton take on their south-coast rivals, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
"Nathan could train this week with the team," Hasenhuttl said. "This is a good message how far he is and if he really can play, I haven't decided so far."
"It's good that he could play because Moussa is out and cannot play. After a few sessions this week, he felt a little bit more in his muscles so we don't want to take this risk and we will keep him out.
"I don't know if I can grab Nathan for his position. I haven't decided so far but we have one session in the morning and then I will decide."
Southampton opened the season with consecutive defeats but have responded with a three-match unbeaten run - including two away victories - to move into the top half of the table.
A first home win of the season would - at least temporarily - lift the Saints into the Premier League's top three, but Hasenhuttl is refusing to get carried away by his side's form.
"I don't care about the table at the moment," he said. "I think you can't really say something about the table.
"If you've played one time against every opponent then you can say OK we did it good in the first half of the season or not.
"But before, when you win twice you are top three or four and when you lose twice you are in the relegation zone, so it doesn't really make sense to watch the table too much at the moment."
