Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed that Danny Ings isn’t fit to face Tottenham on Saturday.
The striker has been out of action since the draw against Burnley in January, where he limped off in the first half with a hamstring injury.
And Hasenhuttl believes bringing him back for the match with Spurs is a risk not worth taking.
Saints’ boss said: “He is not in the group at the moment.
“We didn’t want to take any risks. We want to give him the time to come back in this three-week break that we have after the Tottenham game.
“We have one friendly against a Championship team and then maybe he can get 45 minutes or something like that.
“We need to build him up for the games that are coming after then, as they are very important.”
Another player who will absent for Saturday’s game is Mario Lemina.
The Gabonese international is still recovering from the abdominal operation he had to undergo at the end of January.
However, Hasenhuttl revealed the midfielder returned to full training today.
He added: “Lemina trained with the team for the first time today and I was very happy about that.”
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