Sofiane Boufal remains a major doubt for the League Cup final thanks to his ankle injury.

The club record £16m signing was forced off during the defeat to West Ham with a problem that has left him on crutches as a precaution.

Though it is believed the Moroccan international has not suffered serious damage it looks touch and go as to whether he will be ready to face Manchester United at Wembley.

Saints boss Claude Puel reported: “I don’t know for the moment. He cannot play this game (against Sunderland) because it’s a big injury and I don’t know if we can recover him or not.

“It’s not the first time we are unlucky and we lost important players and it’s important to see forward, to compensate and to work and to respect other players of the squad.

“We have different qualities on the team and if he cannot play this game we will find the solution always.”

Puel has a number of long term injury problems and while it looks like Boufal shouldn’t add to the list of stars out for months rather than days or weeks, there isn’t much other good news on the horizon.

“Sofiane Bofual cannot be available for this game with his ankle injury. Of course it’s difficult for us but all the other players without the longer injuries are available for this game,” said Puel.

“Always the same injuries with Virgil, Austin, McCarthy, Targett.

“We cannot see their comeback with one or two months for Charlie and for Virgil it is a long time also.

“It is important to keep the good concentration and the good solution around the squad.”