Newcastle United winger suffers injury blow - manager confirms month long absence

Newcastle United loanee Ryan Fraser has been ruled-out of action for around a month after sustaining a knee injury during Southampton’s defeat to Millwall at the weekend. Fraser had been in good form for the Saints, netting six in his last 13 appearances in all competitions.

However, he will not feature until after the March international break after Saints boss Russell Martin confirmed that Fraser had suffered a knee injury - one that forced him off after just 20 minutes at the weekend - and that the 30-year-old will be missing for some time: “(It's) a big blow for him, but we'll have him back probably the other side of the international break,” Martin said.

"He's a really big character in the dressing room, so we lose something when he doesn't play which is his relentless running ability, his ability to cross on the move, his desire to go and score and assist and work hard for the team and the others need to step up now.”

Fraser will remain on the south coast to rehab and recover from the injury and will hope to make a swift return to action to help his new side to promotion from the Championship. Southampton had gone unbeaten for a mammoth 25 games in all competitions before falling to a 3-1 defeat at Bristol City earlier this month. Whilst back-to-back wins that followed that seemingly had their promotion hunt back on track, defeat at home to relegation-threatened Millwall at the weekend was a major setback. Fraser, who is on-loan at St Mary’s until the end of the season, has been tipped to join them on a permanent basis.