Nigeria international Paul Onuachu will be assessed ahead of Southampton’s home clash with Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday, interim boss Simon Rusk has revealed.
Onuachu has scored in consecutive games at St Mary’s but was dropped for Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Tottenham with an ankle concern given as the official reason.
Former manager Ivan Juric expressed his opinion that Onuachu cannot play more than once a week without his level dropping.
The 30-year-old has trained with the group this week, and Rusk believes things look positive ahead of facing Villa.
“We’ve got a fairly clean bill of health at the minute. There are one or two. Charlie Taylor is knocking about with one or two issues,” Rusk was qouted by Daily Echo.
“Paul has trained; he is in and around it. We have one or two that we are assessing, and Paul is one of them. We’re hoping that the signs for that are looking good.”
Onuachu has scored four goals and provided one assist from nine Premier League starts this season.
Only former Aston Villa forward Cameron Archer has scored more than him this season (five), but just two of his goals have come in the Premier League.
The 23-year-old has not scored since Southampton’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup during Rusk’s previous spell as interim boss.
