Claude Puel has given the injury news ahead of the visit of Middlesbrough and it isn't good news on the Charlie Austin front, find out this and the other injury news here.

Charlie Austin will miss the clash on Sunday with the shoulder injury he sustained in the Europa League game last night although Puel has confirmed that the extent of it is not yet clear.

“For the moment, I don’t have all the news. He’s not available for Sunday, and we will see later what the full answer is and how long he will be out for.

“it’s a disappointment for him, because he has had a good first part of the season, but it’s important for the team to have a good answer. We will see the quality of other players.”

Two players who could come in and replace Austin are Jay Rodriguez and Sofiane Boufal who both missed out on Thursday's match with minor knocks as the manager confirmed.

"I hope we can recover Rodriguez and Boufal for this game,” said Puel.

"They were a little injured for yesterday, and it’s important to have all the players available for the next games."

Another bit of good news is that Dusan Tadic appears to have come through his substitute appearance without any issues and looked to have got the confidence to get stuck in without fear of further damage, although Puel is still cautious about the Serbian.

“I hope we will see this. He has had just a few training sessions with the group after three weeks out and it’s important he comes back step by step."

"Normally he would go to start and we will see how many times he can play.”

Photo: Action Images

Dan_P326 added 14:26 - Dec 9 Well at least we have a lot of players capable of scor.....Uh oh...
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schatfield added 16:13 - Dec 9 were f*cked Whats the guess Gaston plays a stunner on Sunday..
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zonehead added 19:40 - Dec 9 Play VD up front
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aceofthebase added 20:18 - Dec 9 I think there will soon be a major clamouring for VVD to play as a forward and I would like to think I mentioned it first on these pages
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SanMarco added 23:12 - Dec 9 No ace it was Consigliere and whatsforpud was also in before you. Several others have now jumped on the bandwagon. Is he actually going to get us more goals than we will let in because he's not centre-back?
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aceofthebase added 10:11 - Dec 10 Well at the beginning of the season I said he should play up front and I know for sure no-one said this before me
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GeordieSaint added 11:29 - Dec 10 I would be happy to jump on that bandwagon, but it would mean not having him at the back. Anyone remember Paul warhurst?
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highfield49 added 11:30 - Dec 10 Playing VVD up front sounds like a completely pointless argument to me. When he has gone up for set pieces he has missed some absolute sitters, just like Fonte and Yoshida have this season. This isn't the time for panic selections and it would make more sense imo to play McQueen further forward on the left either in midfield or as a winger in place of Redmond. If Jayrod isn't fit then Long should play a more central role. Ok, I know Long hasn't scored a goal for ages but what better time to break the duck than tomorrow?

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SanMarco added 11:54 - Dec 10 You win aceofthebase - you first - though I think I agree with highfield on how good an idea it is. Once we 'cash in' on Fonte poor old Yoshi will get very lonely all by himself at the back.
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FaroSaint added 16:38 - Dec 10 I have watched all the games this year and whilst we are mostly playing neat football there has been a gradual increasing tendency to sit deep. The opportunities to score have started to dry up and we are not taking the chances that we do make. Too many times we have dominated possession to lose games to opponents who score from their only chance . We are not frightening the opposition who are quite happy for us to impotently pass the ball around. More worryingly recently is the deterioration in the quality of passing and the wasting of possession when in a good position. Unless we find a forward who can hold the ball up and take the chances provided we will struggle. SRL & PELE were superb doing this and we are missing someone of that calibre this season. imo we need to go shopping in the new year or it will turn into a difficult season .

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aceofthebase added 21:49 - Dec 10 What I originally said about VVD playing up front was on the proviso that we had two decent CBs, including a replacement CB. You have to ask what would the opposition fear most when we attack. Redmond or VVD? It's unlikely to happen but it is sometimes fun just to speculate! By the way where has my big hope of yesteryear Florin Gardos disappeared to? a few promising games for the U23s and then silence.

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darthvader added 02:03 - Dec 11 Could play yoshida up front and alternate with fonte and Vvd . It would be more attacking than what's on offer at the moment . At least he had a go the other night
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