Shane Long looks set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering a rib injury in Saturday’s FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace.
The Ireland striker was introduced off the bench after 59 minutes but had to be taken off 12 minutes later following a collision with Palace defender Joel Ward.
Long was taken to hospital straight after game where he was treated for suspected fractured ribs, which could rule the frontman out for over a month.
Saints boss Ronald Koeman confirmed the injury in a post-match interview.
Koeman said: “I spoke to the doctor and he thought he will have fractured one or two ribs and that's very painful.
Thanks for all the tweets guys. Feeling alot better today and am on the mend. Here's to a speedy recovery 👍 😇 pic.twitter.com/4ZrJTKOlH3
— Shane Long (@ShaneLong7) January 25, 2015"It's a pity because we don't have that number of players to go with all the injuries that we have.
"I don't know (how long he is out). Normally three, four, five weeks."
While the Ireland forward will now miss Southampton’s upcoming Premier League games, Long should return in plenty of time for Ireland’s next international, where Martin O’Neill’s side take on Poland on 29 March at the Aviva Stadium.
