BOSS Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted Oriol Romeu’s ankle problem was “not looking good” as he looked to have added to Saints’ growing injury list.

The Spanish midfielder had impressed during his side’s Premier League defeat at Leeds United before hobbling off after 70 minutes in west Yorkshire.

Saints went on to lose 3-0 thanks to goals from Patrick Bamford, Stuart Dallas and Raphinha.

Asked for an update on Romeu post-match, Hasenhuttl said: “Not good. His ankle is not looking good.”

Quizzed on whether it would be a long-term injury, the Austrian boss replied: “I don’t know, hopefully not. But we have not a lot of alternatives.

“Ibra (Diallo) is also injured and takes also time to come back, you see? This is exactly what happens at the moment.

“We lose games. We lose players nearly every game with an injury.

“It was not even a yellow card, I mean, I don’t want to discuss the referee (Andre Marriner) but we are very nice at the moment.

“They can kick us. We get the yellow cards.

“They can hurt us and we are injured. This is the moment. So they are not very enjoyable performances we’ve shown.”

Saints also have Diallo, Theo Walcott and Kyle Walker-Peters out through injury – as well as long-term absentees Michael Obafemi and Will Smallbone.

Defeat left the St Mary’s side 14th in the table, eight points clear of the bottom three.