After being kicked out of the Carabao Cup in midweek by Chelsea, Southampton have a big Premier League game on the horizon against Watford who are only two points ahead of the Saints in the league table.

Following on from their defeat in west London, it seems as though Southampton have been dealt yet another disappointing blow that could have a big impact on the match at the weekend against Claudio Ranieri's side who managed to beat Everton 5-2 in their previous league outing.

What's the news?

Speaking ahead of the match against the Hornets in his latest press conference, Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl revealed that on-loan Chelsea striker Armando Broja will miss the match on Saturday due to an ankle injury.

Since joining the south coast club on his loan deal from Chelsea back in August, the striker has managed to score four goals in eight appearances for the Saints across all competitions, with two of them coming in Southampton's previous two Premier League games against Leeds United and Burnley.

Not only does this show what good form the 20-year-old was enjoying in recent weeks but also how much of a massive blow his absence at the weekend will be for the team and the Southampton fans, who will undoubtedly be gutted by this latest news.

Looking ahead to the Watford match and who we feel Hasenhuttl could turn to that could be a suitable replacement for the injured Broja, we feel that given how Che Adams managed to score Southampton's goal against Chelsea on Tuesday, he would be the smart option to start at the weekend, potentially alongside Adam Armstrong who also played in midweek to see if they can help secure the three points against the Hornets.

Looking beyond that, everyone at Southampton will undoubtedly be hoping that Broja will not be out of action for too long and can potentially return to the decent goalscoring form he was delivering in the league before his injury as he could well be the difference between Southampton staying up and going down considering they have only managed to score eight goals in their opening nine league games of the season.

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