Southampton's woes at full-back look set to continue on Saturday when they face Leicester City after Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed that Romain Perraud would miss the trip through injury.

The Frenchman, who joined from Brest last summer, missed the game against Leeds United last week, while he only came off the bench in the 4-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur in the opening fixture of the campaign.

Hasenhuttl has been forced to deploy Moussa Djenepo at left wing-back in the opening two matches, as Kyle Walker-Peters has reverted to right-back due to Tino Livramento being injured.

The Austrian spoke to the press ahead of Saturday's clash at the King Power Stadium and revealed that Perraud would once again be unavailable, although he provided a timescale on the 24-year-old's possible return.

Hasenhuttl said: “The groin problems were bigger than we thought. It’s not the injury he had in the summer, it’s a muscle injury. It’s always a little tricky when you don’t have pre-season and you start and immediately step in.

“Everything was going quite well but the fundamental, the basic was not there or is not there and then you can see sometimes other problems come up.

“The timeline [of recovery] is beginning of next week, he should be back in training. This weekend is too early but hopefully starting next week he is back. That doesn’t mean he can play in the Carabao Cup but we will see.”

While Djenepo has started the season in decent form, providing an assist in the defeat at Spurs and earning a 7.57 rating from WhoScored for his performance against Leeds, the five-at-the-back formation feels like a needs-must situation for Hasenhuttl at the moment, and the return of Perraud would give him the option to revert to a back four.

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While Hasenhuttl 20 appearances in the top flight, and the Austrian would have hoped to see the 24-year-old push on this season after a solid debut campaign at St Mary's.

Therefore, it is a blow that the Frenchman won't be available for the trip to Leicester, especially as the Saints have shipped six goals already this season, so Hasenhuttl clearly needs as many defensive options available as possible.