 Friday, 26th Apr 2013 11:10 Can we continue our good home record against West Bromwich Albion and virtually guarantee safety in the process. Saints take on West Brom at St Mary's stadium on Saturday with history firmly in their favour, a West Bromwich win in Southampton is rarer than a set or Portsmouth FC accounts arriving with HMRC on time, however given the relatively few occasions we have hosted the Baggies, ie nearly six years since their last visit and only 4 times in the last 27 years, I would contend that none of this will have any bearing on how the game turns out on Saturday. The Midlands club have had a decent season and look likely to finish at least 8th in the premier league, but the key to this game might be desire and in the case of West Brom they havent a lot to play for, anything less than a win would virtually end any hopes of 7th and although defeat would see several clubs breathing down their necks, including ourselves who would be only 3 points behind, you have to ask whether for them the season is over and they have one eye on the holiday brochures. But we shouldnt underestimate their achievements this season, a bit of a yo yo club between Premier & Championship over the last decade or so, they finished 10th last season and this term look set to repeat that again and possibly higher. However their league position has been built on home form and 9 wins at the Hawthorns can only be bettered by Everton outside of the top four, away from home they have won 4, drew 3 and lost 9 amassing 15 points, scoring 18 and conceding 27, in many respects a similar record to ourselves and worse than their local rivals Aston Villa on their travels. So the game is their for Saints to win and surge out of the bottom third and into the top half and that could be the difference between the two sides, that word DESIRE, at the end of the season some sides surge forward on their momentum whilst others having achieved their aims earlier, coast towards the finishing line. One thing they dont usually do though though is draw, only two in the last ten games, although those two have come in the last four games including last weeks 1-1 against Newcastle. In the main Albion usually beat you or lose and that could lead to a decent game of football with both sides looking for all three points. Again I dont expect too many changes for Pochettino, ideally a win at Swansea would have given him room to experiment in this game, Vegard Forren needs to be tested before the end of the season and this would be the ideal game to do it in, however we need to get the points in the bag from this one, otherwise the only real choices for the manager ere the usual ones, does he bring in Ramirez and does he retain Danny Fox for a third successive week or restore Shaw. Many would say these are no brainers, but Pochettinos problem in todays game where its all about squads, is that he doesnt have much to choose from outside the first 16 or so players, the fringe players have to be kept sharp and more importantly have to have the incentive to come in and know they will keep their places should they play well, if you take that incentive away and show a player that no matter how well he plays he will still be dropped next week, you de motivate them and there will always be times when you need them. So apart from those two decisions, it will probably be business as usual barring any injuries that we are unaware of at present, for Saints there are a lot of players still playing for places for next season and hopefully that will be motivation enough.
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