Saint-Etienne captain, Loic Perrin, has been ruled out for a month due to a thigh injury sustained against Raon l'Etape in the Coupe de France last weekend.
The defender is likely to miss crucial meetings with local rivals Lyon and runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain as Les Verts continue to push for a place in Europe for a fourth consecutive campaign.
Perrin should, however, be available for the club’s crucial Europa League tie with Basel at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard next month.
Coupe de France win provides negatives and positives
ASSE edged past fifth-division Raon l'Etape courtesy of a penalty shoot-out on Sunday afternoon, with Clauss cancelling out Neal Maupay’s opener 21 minutes into proceedings. Perrin was replaced by Moustapha Bayal Sall prior to extra-time, complaining of a hamstring injury.
Alongside the difficulties of advancing into the Round of 32, manager Christophe Galtier now has to deal with Perrin’s injury and the controversy surrounding Stephane Ruffier after the goalkeeper mocked Wilfried Rother after saving his penalty.
The amateur defender proclaimed that the Frenchman had not taken a joke about letting the hosts win particularly well before calling the former Troyes man a “clown” and telling the 25-year-old to watch him play in the Europa League later this term.
Few replacements available for scathed Saint-Etienne
After partaking in a total of 31 competitive fixtures during this current campaign, Saint-Etienne’s squad is beginning to become stretched. Romain Hamouma, Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, Kevin Monnet-Paquet and Ismael Diomande were all absent at the weekend through injuries.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Florentin Pogba, Francois Clerc and forward Robert Beric are all long-term absentees. The former three all play in defence and it could potentially leave just Moustapha Bayal Sall as the Ligue 1 outfit’s only fit centre-back ahead of the Nantes encounter.
Kevin Theophile-Catherine did return against Raon though, playing for the first time in a number of months as he continues his recovery.