Southampton have confirmed that forward Michael Obafemi has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
The youngster had been unavailable for selection since December after he injured his hamstring against Huddersfield Town, a game in which he scored his first senior goal as Saints won 3-1.
The 18-year-old returned to action at the weekend, coming on as a substitute at half-time but just 20 minutes later, he was forced off with what looked to be a reoccurrence of the hamstring injury and that will now rule him out for the rest of the season, however, there are some reports suggesting that the Irishman has suffered an ankle injury too.
With Danny Ings still unavailable for selection, manager Ralph Hasenhuttl must decide who to start up front for Wednesday’s huge relegation clash against Fulham, with Charlie Austin, Shane Long and Nathan Redmond the three obvious candidates.
If Saints can beat Fulham at home, they’ll open up a ten point gap between themselves and the London-based strugglers and they could, depending on how Cardiff fare against Everton on Tuesday evening, find themselves climbing out of the relegation zone.
