As we enter the final days of the transfer window Saints will be weighing up whether to take a gamble with Graziano Pelle as they once did with Rickie Lambert.

For several years Lambert was Saints’ talisman, not only vital for his goalscoring prowess but his all-round contribution to the team.

It was hard to imagine how Saints would really function without him in the side.

Many believed that the club needed to have a like-for-like replacement sat on the bench, ready to step in and enable the team to play in the same way should their main man get injured or suspended.

Saints never really had that.

They took a gamble.

Lambert was a highly durable player. He needed careful management to keep him at his sharpest, but he was a strong guy and not prone to minor knocks and niggles, especially with a game not based on pace.

Lambert was only ever once suspended during his remarkable Saints career, and he was very rarely injured.

It was, on reflection, quite a punt by Saints.

If he were to have got crocked then it’s very hard to predict exactly what would have happened, but Saints almost certainly would have struggled.

They might not even be in the Premier League.

Saints are facing a similar dilemma with Pelle.

He has proven to be a superb replacement for Lambert. He has produced the goals and the type of game that Lambert did He is a focal point for the team and, even when he has had a slightly barren spell by his own high standards, has still been of huge importance for the side as a whole.

Saints spent £12m on Shane Long as a potential replacement.

It is not a like-for-like in any way, with Long preferring to run off of the shoulder on the last defender, while Pelle is all up front power and aggression with a handy knack for some quality finishing.

As a replacement, though, Long is a a really good option.

Similarly, Saints in the later period of Lambert’s time with the club would surely have pushed Jay Rodriguez through the middle.

With Long now sidelined for a number of weeks with fractured ribs, and Rodriguez also still out for the foreseeable future, and likewise Sam Gallagher, Saints once more find themselves deciding whether to take a gamble.

The chances are that Pelle will remain fit and available until Long returns to the squad.

But, if the worst happens and he is out, Saints are struggling in a vital area.

Suddenly you are looking at having to play someone who has only been a fringe player, such as Emmanuel Mayuka when he returns from Africa, or perhaps untried youngster Ryan Seager.

Alternatively, Koeman could move a player into that forward role and hope it works out.

Maybe Eljero Elia, perhaps Sadio Mane, but we don’t yet know when the latter will be back after representing Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations.

It has left Ronald Koeman weighing up whether he needs more cover in that role.

On balance, the chances are that he probably WON’T move for another striker, but this is a close call.

Koeman last week all but ruled out any further additions to the squad.

Despite a raft of injuries to the likes of Toby Alderweireld, Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama, and the international call-ups that have denied them the services of Maya Yoshida, Mane and Mayuka, there was light at the end of that tunnel.

Saints knew they pretty much had to get through just a couple of league games, the last of those being against Swansea at St Mary’s this Sunday, and players would start returning.

This weekend there is little more than a bare XI to field of first choice players, with a bench that will likely feature Kelvin Davis, Florin Gardos and a host of under-21 players.

However, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that by the time Saints face QPR a week on Saturday they will not be far from full strength.

With that in mind, Koeman decided not to strengthen his squad any further, arguing that to sign a player potentially just for a few games was fair on nobody.

That seemed perfectly sensible reasoning.

After the loss to Crystal Palace, and the damage to Long, he was clearly rethinking and trying to rationalise again.

Even with those other players back, he is still vulnerable up front.

If Pelle stays fit, it’s not a problem, as Long has not forced himself past the big man in that position this season.

It is just that risk something happens to Pelle once the window is closed but before Long returns in around a month or so.

It’s another delicate balancing act for Saints ahead of a February that sees them face five league games which will go a long way to deciding where they might finish this brilliant season.