Southampton vs Brentford: Ralph Hasenhuttl unsure if Saints will have enough players for game | Football News
Ralph Hasenhuttl is unsure if Southampton will have enough players for Tuesday’s Premier League clash at home to Brentford.
Saints secured their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday by winning 3-2 away to Sky Bet Championship side Swansea.
But victory came at a cost, with extra time adding to the heavy workload on a Covid-19 and injury-hit squad and the visitors losing full-back Yan Valery to a red card after only half an hour.
Southampton were already without Alex McCarthy, Che Adams, Kyle Walker-Peters, Mohammed Salisu, Moussa Djenepo, Tino Livramento, Thierry Small and Will Smallbone for one reason or another in south Wales, and Hasenhuttl admits his squad is really stretched.
Asked if Saints will have enough players for Tuesday’s rearranged game, boss Hasenhuttl said: “We never know. At the moment, it’s all about lottery.
Ralph Hasenhuttl is unsure if Southampton will have enough players for Tuesday’s Premier League visit of Brentford
“You wake up in the morning and go to the training ground. You sit at breakfast and you are waiting for new [coronavirus] cases. The problem is with the fixtures coming up. It doesn’t get any easier.
“We have had a long game, overtime. It’s super tough and we have to definitely recover well because a strong team is waiting for us.”
Hasenhuttl was grateful for the five substitutes rule in the FA Cup to provide fresh legs from the bench after Joel Piroe had cancelled out Nathan Redmond’s early strike.
Mohamed Elyounoussi and Shane Long – with his first Saints goal for nearly two years – both scored in extra time after coming off the bench as Brentford were resting several regulars in their 4-1 cup win at League Two Port Vale.
Hasenhuttl said: “When you are one man down for nearly 90 minutes, it is not the best preparation for our Brentford game.
“So the biggest laughers are Brentford because they know that we have invested a lot. We are in the next round, which is the positive thing, and now we have to recover well.
“We must hope that we don’t have more Covid cases because on a few positions we are running out of players.”
Tuesday’s game was originally due to take place on December 18 but was called off due to Covid cases in the Brentford squad.
