Mauricio Pochettino says a spate of injuries has left Saints facing a big test, which starts with tomorrow’s visit of Aston Villa.
Artur Boruc has been ruled out for the next few weeks after suffering a fractured hand during the second half of Sunday’s defeat at Chelsea.
Morgan Schneiderlin will also be missing after coming off with a groin problem at Stamford Bridge, while Kelvin Davis (back), Gastón Ramírez (illness), Danny Fox (hamstring) and Guly do Prado (knee) remain sidelined.
And, after seeing the team suffer back-to-back defeats on the road, Pochettino is backing the players to bounce back strongly regardless of any changes to the squad for tomorrow’s game.
“We’re always being tested in the Premier League, and the test starts tomorrow with a game against Aston Villa,” the manager told Saints Player earlier today.
“We want to recuperate these players as soon as possible and get them ready to play, but it’s clear that we have full trust and confidence in all of our players.
“They all have our trust. Of course we are going to miss Artur Boruc because he is a great goalkeeper, but we trust the entire squad.
“Every game is important, and to win tomorrow is vital for us,” continued Pochettino.
“After two consecutive defeats, of course the team wants to get back to winning ways so – with full respect to Aston Villa – we’ll be trying to get the win tomorrow.
“We know full well that they are a very intense and physical side, and they will make things really difficult for us.
“They seem to get better results away rather than at home and they like to go on the counter-attack with a lot of pace, but we’ll try to counter that by imposing our style of play.”
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