MOUSSA Djenepo has been ruled out of this weekend’s trip to Aston Villa with a hamstring injury.

The winger has already missed a chunk of this season after his hip caused him problems following the Sheffield United win.

And with Christmas being a busy time in the footballing calendar, Hasenhuttl doesn’t want to risk making things any worse.

He said: “Moussa is out for the weekend.

“He has problems with his hamstring and the risk is too big. Maybe next week he starts again.

“It is only because of the risk that we don’t risk him because we have a lot of games over Christmas.

“It’s important that he gets 100 per cent fit.”

Although Djenepo is set to miss Saturday’s match, Hasenhuttl revealed that Sofiane Boufal could return to the Saints bench.

The Moroccan international has been struggling for fitness after stubbing his toe earlier in the month.

It’s an issue that eventually led to him having to receive injections to kill the pain every time he wanted to train.

However, Saints’ boss said there is “light at the end of the tunnel” with Boufal and that they will see how he fares in training tomorrow.

“[Sofiane] Boufal is still not in the team training. He still has some issues with some movements so without an injection he is still unable to train,” continued Hasenhuttl.

“But it’s getting better and better and I think there is light at the end of the tunnel, so we can wait for him.

“Maybe he is also in the squad for the weekend and if he can train tomorrow we will try it again and then have a look.”

The only other injury concern for Saints is the illness that will keep Yan Valery out of action until 2020.

Valery has a viral infection, with Kevin Danso also picking up an illness earlier in the week that led to him missing two days of training.

He added: “We also have ill players.

“Kevin Danso has been out for two days and Yan Valery is out for longer.

“I said last week that he won’t play again this year, maybe next year he is coming back.”

Despite Danso also picking up an illness, Hasenhuttl joked that the right precautions are being taken.

“We clean our hands every day thousands of times and we don’t kiss each other, so it’s fantastic.”