The Southampton striker faces additional competition for a place in the side.
Southampton host Watford in the FA Cup fourth round and one player who will be especially determined to impress for Mauricio Pellegrino’s side is Shane Long.
The striker has been absent through illness but is now back available and is in contention to feature in the game at St Mary’s, as reported by Vital Football.
Long has been heavily involved for Southampton this season but has lacked ruthlessness in front of goal, as demonstrated by the fact that he has scored just once in 17 Premier League appearances.
Following the arrival of Guido Carrillo from Monaco for a club record fee of £19.2 million, Long faces a battle to convince Pellegrino that he should feature prominently, while his hope for regular game time will be complicated further when Charlie Austin returns from injury.
Long works arduously and is effective at creating space for his team-mates to run into, but Southampton, in their current predicament, need goals and Carrillo can help them greatly in that regard.
It is now up to Long to show that he can still be a valuable member of the Southampton squad.
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