Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has disclosed that Moussa Djenepo is a doubt for their Premier League encounter against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
Djenepo suffered a groin injury after a challenge in the Saints' 5-2 loss against Manchester City on Thursday.
He was subsequently replaced by Nathan Tella at half-time and he has undergone some medical scans.
Ahead of Sunday's clash at St Mary's Stadium, Hasenhuttl said he is cautious of Djenepo's reaction to treatment, which makes him uncertain of the Mali international's availability.
“Moussa was out after 30 minutes in the last game,” Hasenhuttl was quoted by Daily Echo.
“It doesn’t look that bad, so hopefully he can start training by the end of the week so he can be an alternative for the weekend, but we don’t know it yet.
“Sometimes with Moussa his body reacts in a strange way.
“Sometimes it feels worse than it is in the end, but when you scan him he immediately shows a lot of blood in muscles when he has odd injuries, so we have to pay attention to how tough the injury definitely is.
“This is not so easy for our physios to see clearly, because sometimes he reacts better than they think and when he takes the test it looks better than it should be normally, so it is always tough to decide whether he is available or not.”
Djenepo has scored one goal in 21 Premier League matches for Southampton, who are 14th on the league table with 33 points after 28 matches.
Ahead of their final Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixtures, Mali will be concerned about the fitness of the 22-year-old who scored a goal in their 2-0 defeat of Chad in November.
The Eagles lead qualifying Group A and they have already secured their spot for the 2022 continental tournament billed for Cameroon after gathering 10 points from four matches.
They play Naby Keita's Guinea and already eliminated Chad in their final group matches, on March 24 and 28, respectively.
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