ALVARO NEGREDO and Gaston Ramirez have emerged as injury doubts ahead of Middlesbrough’s game at Southampton on Sunday.

Neither forward has been able to take part in a full training session this week after picking up knocks during Monday’s 1-0 win over Hull City.

Negredo damaged his hamstring, while Ramirez took a kick to the foot that is continuing to cause him pain.

Both players will be reassessed tomorrow morning, with Karanka hoping they will be able to train ahead of the long trip to the south coast.

The Boro head coach said: “They couldn’t train with the team. They have been doing work on their own, so tomorrow we will have to check them to see how they are.

“We will have to see how they are from an injury point of view, and also from a fitness point of view.”

George Friend is approaching full fitness, and should return to full-contact training at the start of next week having recovered from a knee injury.

He could feature in Wednesday’s home game with Liverpool, although Fabio’s form means Karanka does not have to rush his first-choice left-back back into the team.

“George is not with the team yet. He did the warm-up yesterday, and we won’t be playing him until he is 100 per cent.

“I will speak with him, and with the doctor, to try to choose the best time to bring him back.”

Southampton will be without their leading goalscorer, Charlie Austin, on Sunday after the striker suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder in yesterday’s Europa League draw with Hapoel Beer Sheva.

Shane Long is likely to replace him at St Mary’s, with Karanka anticipating a difficult test whoever the Saints name up front.

He said: “Sometimes, when you lose a good player, the player who replaces him takes his chance and makes sure he is working a lot to have that chance.

“When we played against Hull last week, they had two players injured in that position, and the player who played made things difficult for us.

“Southampton are a team who play good football. They have two more points than us, but we have scored the same number of goals as them and conceded the same number as well.

“It will be a tough game. They have a good, experienced coach, and good players who are more experienced than us. But we have to go there thinking we can win the game, especially playing in the way we are playing and with the confidence we have at the moment.”