Puel prays for no Saints injuries on international break

As many of the Premier League’s finest head back to their homelands ahead of the latest international break, Southampton manager Claude Puel is keeping his fingers firmly crossed that his players return to St Mary’s unscathed.

A large number of the Saints’ first team squad, including England’s Fraser Forster and Ryan Bertrand, are away with their respective nations on the back of a hectic schedule at club level.

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Sunday’s stalemate with Leicester City was the Saints’ third away game in eight days, having travelled to Israel for their midweek 0-0 draw with Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the Europa League.

And after a gruelling couple of weeks for his players, Puel is praying for no lasting effects when the team return to the south coast.

“We have 15 international players, so it’s very hard, because all these players go away, playing one or two games, and they don’t get the recovery,” said Puel. “This is very hard for when they come back to Southampton.
“But we will see in two weeks and I hope they can come back with a good physical level and in good fitness.”