Ralph Hasenhuttl has confirmed that there are no new injuries for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday but Danny Ings will not be risked.
The good news for Saints fans is that Ralph Hasenhuttl's squad have not picked up any new injuries, the bad news for Saints fans in the short term is that Danny Ings looks unlikely to play any part.
Hasenhuttl has opted for caution after seeing Ings continually return from injury and then pull up again in what has been a stop and start 2019 for the striker.
"Danny is not in the group at the moment," he said in his pre-match press conference.
"We didn’t take any risks, we want to give him the time to come back during the three-week break. We will play a friendly against a Championship team and he can play for 45 minutes maybe in that time and build up his fitness."
"This is a new situation for me, missing a game for the cup. To have such a long break during the season is unnatural. We will have everyone here for the first week and then not for the second because some will leave for their national teams."
"In that first week, we will take a few early steps towards the Brighton match but when they go to their national teams maybe they will forget what we worked on. We will try to find some rhythm but it’s not easy."
From a cautious point of view by the time Ings returns for the Brighton game he will have had 2 months to recover and should hopefully be fully fit again and able to play the final 8 games of the season and that should be a big boost to Saints in the final run in.
But for the visit of Spurs it will leave him short up front, Shane Long was missing last week at Old Trafford and it is unclear whether that was tactical with Hasenhuttl opting for Sam Gallagher on the bench ahead of himor whether the Irish striker had picked up a slight knock.