'It's a bad one' - Southampton boss confirms major injury blow ahead of Leeds United clash

Southampton will be without Stuart Armstrong for their final-day trip to Leeds United after the midfielder was stretchered off during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City.

Armstrong went down off the ball after seemingly planting his foot awkwardly in the ground, with the 32-year-old leaving the Cardiff City Stadium pitch on a stretcher after a lengthy delay. Southampton had already made all five changes and so finished the game with 10 men.

A miserable day for Southampton was compounded when Cian Ashford earned Cardiff all three points with a 96th-minute winner, after Famara Diedhiou cancelled out Joe Aribo’s early opener. Martin’s side face Leicester City and Stoke before coming to Leeds on the final day, with Armstrong set to miss all three matches.

“He will be out for the season I would have thought. It’s a bad one,” Martin told The Daily Echo. "We are keeping our fingers crossed that it’s not as bad as everyone fears. He is on crutches. It’s a really tough day for us all and I’m gutted for him. He played so well today as well. He will be a big miss.”

A hugely frustrating defeat saw Southampton dominate the game for more than an hour, with countless chances to build on Aribo’s goal missed either side of half-time. Cardiff’s equaliser allowed them to grow into the game and the Welsh outfit eventually nicked it late.

Defeat for Southampton leaves them five points adrift of the automatic promotion places and three short of third-placed Leeds, with just three games remaining. They are still mathematically in the race for a top-two finish but a resigned Martin admits ‘a lot of harm’ was done to their chances at Cardiff.

"I watched Leicester [who won 2-1 earlier in the day] have a really tough afternoon against West Brom and Carlos [Corberan] will probably feel similar to me with the chances they created and they didn't get anything from the game,” the Saints boss added. "So he'll be feeling the same pain as I did today, but Leicester found a way to win, and we didn't. 

"That's why we're not in the top two, and they are. It's really frustrating, but it's four really, really top teams, in my opinion. Today has done us a lot of harm in terms of chasing the automatic spot, but we have to react properly now. We can still get over 90 points."

Southampton go to Leicester on Tuesday in a game that could have major ramifications on Leeds’ promotion hopes, although Enzo Maresca’s side only have to win two of their final three games to guarantee automatic promotion. Daniel Farke’s side will see Ipswich Town as the ones to catch and could leapfrog them with victory at Middlesbrough on Monday.