Southampton manager Claude Puel has taken more than his fair share of stick from fans in recent weeks.

The former Nice boss, who took over a squad once again picked apart by Premier League rivals in the wake of Ronald Koeman, has been criticised for his more conservative style of play by fans used to watching the more expressive styles of Koeman and before that Mauricio Pochettino.

The fans do have a point, it’s now three games without a goal for the south coast side and, going into last night’s loss against Arsenal, they had only managed one shot on target in 180 minutes of football – a Dusan Tadic penalty saved by Hull ‘keeper Eldin Jakupovic.

With goals seemingly hard to come by, Puel has handed fans some fantastic news ahead of their trip to Middlesbrough this weekend.

Having recently returned to first team training after a shoulder injury sustained before Christmas in a Europa League draw against Hapoel Be’er Sheva, top scorer Charlie Austin could be set for a return to the fold.

On the subject of the former QPR man, Puel said:

“We will see for Charlie and for the other players,

“The most important thing is to try to have a good balance in the physical fitness of the team between some players with good game time and other players who come back just into the training sessions, like Austin, perhaps Targett or Pied – we will see.”