Saints have an injury crisis before the race for 8th game against Newcastle United with top scorer Jay Rodriguez being the biggest worry.

Saints will be down to the bare bones (tm Arry Redknapp) for the visit of Newcastle United tomorrow, Kelvin Davies is definately out as are Yoshida who will probably miss the rest of the season with a knee injury and Nathaniel Clyne with a groin problem.

Then there are the possibles amongst the recent injury list, Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama have missed games with a hip & knee injury respectively and look extremely doubtful for tomorrow.

But if this list isn't bad enough then comes the latest crop of injuries, perhaps the most worrying of these is Jay Rodriguez, he picked up a knee injury at Spurs that forced him off in the second half and is doubtful for tomorrow, add to that Steven Davis who has a groin problem and we are starting to struggle in key areas.

Assuming that both are out then Mauricio Pochettino will find it hard to stick to his preferred formation and could have to consider a rehash, if Davis and Rodriguez don't make it then it leaves us very short in the middle of the park.

We could probably just about put out five across the middle put would be severely lacking in the wide attacking positions with no natural replacement for Rodriguez. yes a midfield 4 of Lallana, Cork, Ward-Prowse Ramirez has the quality but doesn't have the balance and who would fill the 5th position, a look at the squad shows that Pochettino either has to throw in an untried youngster like Harrison Reed or Jake Sinclair or go for Guly.

If he is a gambling man then perhaps Pochettino will throw in Matt Targett, with speculation about Shaw, Targett is the much rated potential replacement, why not play Targett at left back and move Shaw into a more advanced role or even vice versa.

Other than that his options are limited, clearly he can't throw in Sam Gallagher unless he opts to go two up front and from the bench he will have little strength in depth.

Hopefully at least one of the injury list will pass muster, even that would give some leeway to Pochettino even if they are only fit for the bench.

On another note, as much as our academy is hyped, very few have played any real part in the Premier League this term, now we have no choice but to perhaps blood a few, not ideal but we will get the chance to see if they have what it takes to make the jump from promising youngster to genuine Premier quality player.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 11:15 - Mar 28 I think Gully's injured too! boruc chambers, fonte,lovren,shaw jwp cork lala, gala lamb ram there's not a lot of choice if none get fit by Sat!
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davepid added 12:16 - Mar 28 Synch. Good to hear from you. I thought you were laying low waiting to do a glorious told you so at the end of the season after predicting in January that we would let in at least 2 goals a game .
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slynch added 13:18 - Mar 28 davepid: Was I right, then? It had to happen eventually. Personally, I prefer to be wrong, you always learn something new when you are wrong!?! The present back 4 are good and should let in less, but without Wanyama in front of them they have to work hard. Having seen him in development games Gallagher looks like he could knock over a few defenses - he better live up to this prediction or I''ll be asking him for a refund on my I-Told-U-So TShirt!! Cheers Buddy Boy

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