Southampton have their work cut out to keep pace with the top two in the Championship after defeat to Cardiff City on Saturday.
The good news for Russell Martin and his players is that they have a chance to redeem themselves straight away, with a trip to league leaders Leicester City on Tuesday night.
Joe Aribo has been in good form of late and when he fired home after 12 minutes in Cardiff it looked as though the result was a foregone conclusion.
However, with Southampton failing to convert a host of chances, they allowed the home side back into the game. Two second-half goals – the latter in the 96th minute – resigned the Saints to a gut-wrenching defeat which has cast their promotion hopes into further doubt.
Having already gone into the game without first-choice goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, Southampton then lost Ryan Manning at half-time. The day would get worse still, though, with Stuart Armstrong stretchered off late on.
The 32-year-old Scotland international’s season is over and, with his contract expiring in the summer, he faces an uncertain future.
There was another absentee in Cardiff, however Martin provided an update on this individual’s situation in his pre-Leicester press conference on Monday morning.
Southampton will not take risks with Flynn Downes
Flynn Downes missed the trip to Cardiff with a knock sustained in the 3-0 win over Preston North End on Tuesday night.
The on-loan midfielder was substituted at half-time in that game, with fans hoping it was simply a case of Martin taking the opportunity to give a key player a rest.
However, this was not the case, with Downes missing his ninth league game since signing last summer on Saturday.
Worryingly, Southampton have won just two of those nine fixtures; a 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle in December and a 2-0 win against West Brom in February.
Speaking to the media ahead of the huge clash with Leicester, Martin said Southampton will have to “wait and see” whether Downes can feature but insisted he will not risk the 25-year-old given automatic promotion is now so unlikely.
Russell Martin must trust Shea Charles to replace Downes
Shea Charles was the player who came on to replace Downes at half-time against Preston.
Although Southampton were very comfortable in the game, 3-0 ahead at the halfway stage, the 20-year-old was as impressive as he has been in a Southampton shirt.
Martin himself was quick to praise the youngster post-match, as he said: “Shea Charles was great when he came on.
“I thought the subs were all good. They had a really good impact on the game, but Shea, coming on at half-time, was really good.
“Kept the ball ticking, won it a lot, intercepted a lot, made contact with people. He’s a really good player. He’s just been unfortunate.”
At the time, the Saint boss was optimistic that Downes would have been fit to face Cardiff, but was satisfied that his side “have a really brilliant player to step in” should it be required in Charles.
Therefore, it was very surprising to see Will Smallbone start in Downes’ holding midfield position rather than Charles against Cardiff.
Smallbone is a player Martin likes, but tends to operate as a more conventional central midfielder, whereas Charles is a natural defensive midfield player.
Whilst Smallbone did not play badly against Cardiff, Southampton lack a bit of steel and aggression when he operates in the position usually occupied by Downes.
With the game against Leicester likely to be an intense match-up, Martin has to trust Charles to perform in the number six role if Downes is unable to play.