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SAINTS face a tentative wait over the fitness of their soonto-return international stars.
With another hefty bout of fixture congestion on the horizon, Claude Puel will be counting on his key men returning from duty fit and ready for a crucial period.
There have already been a few issues, especially with the left backs.
First choice Ryan Bertrand returned to St Mary’s because of a hamstring injury he picked up on England duty against Malta, following second pick Matt Targett back to the south coast after he sustained a knock with England Under-21s.
Striker Shane Long also hobbled out of Republic of Ireland’s 3-1 victory over Moldova after scoring their opening goal.
There is potentially eight Saints players in international action today.
No doubt, Puel will be hoping there will be no more hiccups and the majority of his squad breeze back through Staplewood’s doors with a spring in their step later this week.
Three of those eight – James WardProwse, Nathan Redmond and Jack Stephens (unused sub) – helped England Under-21s qualify for the European Under-21s Championships with a game to spare last week, after a 1-0 win in Kazakhstan.
Therefore, their final Group 9 match against bottom-of-the-table Bosnia-Herzegovina is essentially meaningless.
That may well mean captain WardProwse and Redmond will be rested for that game, allowing the likes of Stephens to get some game time.
Maya Yoshida will certainly be one player Puel will have his concerns over.
The defender will be playing for Japan in Australia this morning in their latest World Cup qualifier.
He will then face a gruelling 9,443- mile journey back to the UK and will unlikely be rushed back to action as a result of his jet lag-inducing trip.
Fraser Forster is expected to once again have the displeasure of watching from the bench as Joe Hart is preferred ahead of him as Gareth Southgate’s England play Slovenia tonight.
Steven Davis will captain Northern Ireland against Germany tonight, while his central midfield partner Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg faces Montenegro with Denmark in World Cup qualifiers.
Cuco Martina is also on duty with Curacao against Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Cup.
Once all of today’s fixtures are done, the players will return to Saints with seven punishing games in the next three weeks.
It is an important period, too, with two crucial games against Inter Milan, as they look to take a big step toward the Europa League knockout stages, along with Premier League and EFL Cup matches.
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