Arsenal return to St Mary's this evening for the second part of the double header, but the injury crisis has worsened for Saints since the win in the FA Cup 3 days ago and with Ryan Bertrand suspended it will literally be the last 11 experienced players available starting.
If Saints thought it was down to the bare bones for the visit of the Gunners a few days ago, then they have another think coming, Kyle Walker Peters has joined the injury list and with Ryan Bertrand suspended, it means that only Jan Bednarek will survive from the first choice back four that was the backbone of Saints surge up the table back in the autumn.
This means that the side will pick itself for Ralph Hasenhuttl, there are literally no decisions for him to make in any position , he will pick literally his only fit experienced players, plus rookie left back Jake Vokins who will replace the suspended Bertrand.
On the right hand side it is likely that Yan Valery will deputise for KWP, two years ago Valery was the rising talent in Hasenhuttl's first 5 months in charge and was a revelation in the right back role, but at the start of last season something went wrong and after playing the opening 3 games was strangely dropped.
His appearances for the rest of the season were sporadic with various injuries and virus's blamed for his absence, there are some who say he was awful when he played, but if you look at the games he did play in, some were positive results where he looked something like the player of six months earlier, but many only remember the final game before lockdown when after a fairly solid performance and the team down to 10 men with 10 minutes to go he was too casual and got caught out for the only goal of the game.
But Ralph seemed to have more faith in him then, than he did with the loanee Walker Peters, who was behind him in the pecking order when the season restarted in June.
But after the home defeat to Arsenal in the 2nd game of the lockdown, Valery was dropped and KWP too his chance and it seemed that Valery's days were numbered at St Mary's, the injury crisis meant that he was on the bench for the Liverpool game a few weeks ago and he came on for the final 10 minutes on the right side of midfield, he looked a little rusty but there were also signs that his mojo was returning.
He made a brief cameo for 3 minutes at Leicester before playing the entire 90 minutes against Shrewsbury in the 3rd round of the FA Cup.
So this if anything is the only decision for Ralph tonight, who plays at right back? and with this looks a simple decision assuming that Ralph wants to try and keep the shape of the side intact and leave tinkering to a minimum.
The one good piece of news is that Nathan Redmond is likely to come back into the squad and take his place on the bench, the winger hasn't appeared since the defeat against Manchester City 5 weeks ago and hasn't started a game since October when he helped Saints to a 2-0 win over Everton.
Redmond will offer Ralph some opportunity to change the game from the bench, something he didn't have against the Gunners on Saturday.
Then he had only one option for a game plan, that was to get to 75 minutes and then bring on fresh legs up front and then get to 85 and do the same, with due respect to the rest of the bench, the 11 that started had to get the job done as long as they could keep running.
That will be pretty much the blueprint for this game assuming that it is the same side with only Vokins and Valery in at full backs, so on the bench on one hand Ralph will have a little opportunity to vary things, but on the other Long & Nlundulu aside he has lost the only two other players he would feel are ready to step into the breach.
The bench has Redmond back, but it has lost other options, this is a game where we simply cannot afford an injury in any department aside from up front as we have absolutely no real cover.
On paper Arsenal have players coming back in, we have two crucial defenders not available, this is a tough ask.
But backs to the wall is what Saints often do best and and the game will follow a similar pattern to Saturday with Saints having the legs for an hour of the game but then forced back, if we can avoid injury then we can hopefully make the game follow exactly the same pattern as in the cup.
It is hard to be positive about this game when you consider that we have so many key players this season unavailable, so this is a free hit for Saints, there is little expectation so we might just spring a surprise, we have a spirit about us that Arsenal do not have, they blow hot and cold, we have to make this game one that they rant about on arsenaltv after the game.