Southampton: Cedric Soares to miss remainder of festive period

Confirmed via his personal Twitter, the Southampton right-back will miss the ‘next few games’ through injury.

The Portuguese international only returned on Wednesday from a two-game lay-off, having previously suffered an injury at the end of the loss to Manchester City.

In his place, both Jeremy Pied and Jack Stephens have deputized with fairly good results, but neither are quite on the same level as Cedric when it comes to creating down the right flank.

The Saints are now without a win in five following the loss to Chelsea on Saturday and with games against Huddersfield, Tottenham and Manchester United to come before the new year, things aren’t looking up for Mauricio Pellegrino.

Supporters are yet to hear any news on Ryan Bertrand’s fitness either, with the 28-year-old seemingly pulling his hamstring late on in the 1-0 defeat to his former club. Bertrand is the only outfield player to have been ever-present so far this season for the Saints.

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Although he is yet to register his first Premier League assist of the season, Cedric has been crucial to any of Southampton’s success this season, boasting a passing success just better than 75% whilst also registering just shy of two tackles per game.

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Prior to his injury, Cedric had been ever-present on the right side, which on emphasises his importance when you look at how heavily Pellegrino has rotated elsewhere.

The game against the Terriers this weekend has been described as the biggest of the Saints boss’ tenure on the south coast, with back-to-back games against two of the league’s ‘big six’ to come within four days of each other after Christmas.

After a mini revival after the Everton game, Southampton have once again fallen into bad habits with two fairly unconvincing matches within the space of a week.

With possibility of recruitment, January is no better time to change manager, and the supporters will almost certainly be calling for his head if results don’t improve. With Cedric out of the side potentially until new year, Pellegrino’s job has got ten times harder.