Perhaps the biggest night for Saints this evening in terms of whether we have a chance of European qualification and we are not even playing.

Make no bones about it tonight is a big night for Saints and they have to sit back and hope that results go their way in the three fixtures being played this evening, all of which will have a bearing on where Saints finish and their chances of qualifying for Europe again.

The biggest fixture is at Anfield where the red half of Merseyside takes on the blue half, Liverpool currently sit on equal points with Saints on 51 but they have two games in hand and this is the first of them.

The Toffees haven't won at Anfield in living memory and are likely to rest players with an FA Cup semi final coming up on Saturday so the chances of them springing a surprise look remote, however with local pride at stake thy could be good for a draw which is about the best we could hope for and then pray that Liverpool concentrate on the Europa League and lose focus in their final Premier League games.

Then its West Ham V Watford, again this looks a home banker and again it is the Hammers game in hand on us, starting tonight two points ahead, if they do win it will be a tough ask for us to overhaul them with a five point lead goinginto the final four games, we have to hope that Watford can spring a surprise or two although with an FA Cup semi over the weekend they too could rest players .

Final game of the evening is at the home of the Devil himself, Old Trafford. United take on Crystal Palace and again both sides have semi finals over the weekend, that is the only hope of a Palace result here that United lose focus with the FA Cup taking more precedence than normal because of the managerial unrest.

So Saints fans have to sit on their sofa's and wait tonight, by 10 pm this evening we will know a little more about what we have to fight for in the final four games of the season, sadly with the three sides around us all at home to sides who have not been able to buy a win in the Premier League since the turn of the year we should not hold our breaths.

If Im honest I think the best we can hope for this season is to overhaul West Ham and finish seventh, that in itself would be an amazing feat when we consider the issues we have had with both injuries, suspensions and attitudes this season.

Photo: Action Images

dirk_doone added 12:36 - Apr 20 Watford beat West Ham 2-0 earlier this season, and West Ham haven't won any of their last 6 games, so there is hope.
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halftimeorange added 15:34 - Apr 20 Any chance of Europa League football disappeared against Sunderland, Leicester and Everton. Two points from nine simply ain't good enough.
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dirk_doone added 19:53 - Apr 20 Watford are resting 7 players, including Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo.
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SaintBrock added 21:05 - Apr 20 Would not have mattered at all if we had won at Goodison. We didn't, true to form and that was the end of it for this year. Only you Nick clung to this infantile notion that we were still in the hunt for a European place and that fans were still biting their nails. As you can see unfolding right now, when it matters other teams deliver, only Saints it seems fail the test. Winning medals is about consistency and we never seem able to become consistent - all part sadly of the Southampton Way.

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DPeps added 22:00 - Apr 20 Well those results could've gone better... Liverpool are on a march, and frankly West Ham have had a better season than us, so I'd expect both to finish above us
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SanMarco added 02:18 - Apr 21 'infantile' is a bit unfair SaintBrock, 'over-optimistic' perhaps? We need 1 win to guarantee top 10 and 2 to guarantee top 8 - I wouldn't say that was 'not delivering'. When we were 0-2 vs Liverpool the other day we delivered also home vs Arsenal, and at Stoke. Those games mattered and we delivered didn't we?
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schatfield added 09:07 - Apr 21 oh dear....after last nights results bang goes 7th place! Looks like we will finish either 8th or 9th now, so not a bad season but would have been really nice to get into Europe again
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