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Southampton manager Mark Hughes confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Thursday for his side’s Premier League clash against Brighton and Hove Albion on Monday that striker Shane Long could be a doubt.

The 31-year-old has started the south coast outfit’s previous two matches alongside Danny Ings in attack, but he suffered a toe injury in the build-up to his partner’s goal in the 2-0 win against Crystal Palace previously, that saw him miss out on a call-up to the Republic of Ireland squad during the international break.

Hughes revealed in the press conference that the centre-forward hasn’t trained at all this week, and the Welshman will be sweating on his fitness over the weekend ahead of the clash with the Seagulls on Monday.

Long failed to make the 18-man squad for the opening day clash against Burnley at St Mary’s last month, but he has featured in all of their three top flight matches since, and will be desperate to be ready to face Chris Hughton’s men now he looks to have completed a turnaround and forced his way into his manager’s plans.

Should he miss out, Hughes may well turn to Manolo Gabbiadini or Stuart Armstrong to replace him, with Charlie Austin also suffering from a hamstring issue.