Southampton fans were concerned to notice that Stuart Armstrong was conspicuous by his absence in the pictures posted on the club's official website of the squad in training ahead of the trip to Watford.

Saints posted 43 pictures of the squad in training for the short trip up the M3 and the M25 to face Watford tomorrow, but in all of those pictures there was not one image of Stuart Armstrong.

The Scot has of course only just returned to the fray after an almost 3 month absence due to a calf muscle injury, he returned to the side with a 30 minute sub appearance against Leeds united and followed that up with 16 minutes against Burnley and then his first start of the season at Chelsea on Tuesday when he played 77 minutes at Stamford Bridge.

But he does not appear to have trained on Thursday ahead of the trip to Watford if the pictures published on the club's official website are anything to go by.

Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed that although he no serious injury issues, that some of the squad had picked up minor knocks and strains after the draw and subsequent penalty shoot out loss to Chelsea on Tuesday.

“On Tuesday we had one or two players who took knocks but not that hard."

“We have a good selection to pick from to get the right team, this is what we need to have."

That statement basically said nothing at all and Ralph made no direct reference to Armstrong or indeed any player during his pre match press conference but it could be that Stuart Armstrong after so long out, is just feeling the pace after playing 3 games in 10 days and has been rested a little, or it could be that he has aggravated the injury, I guess we will find out for sure when the team is announced at 2pm on Satuday afternoon.

Photo: Action Images

JoeEgg added 17:34 - Oct 29 Well if Saints lose this one, Stuart Armstrong wont be the only one missing from the training ground!
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Dellwizard added 18:46 - Oct 29 I'm can't say that I'm that worried about Stuard Armstrong being injured as I can't really remember seeing him play. As long Stuart Armstrong is available I will be happy.
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kingolaf added 18:55 - Oct 29 I would rather have a knackered Armstrong than a fully fit Walcott.
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