This Thursday night see's four games in the Premier League but Saints fan's with nothing else to do with a week off, will have their eyes on three of the fixtures as they will affect our chances to finish in the top 10.

The fixture with most riding on it this evening will be at the Emirates where Arsenal host rock bottom Norwich City, the Canaries are fast approaching relegation but we could do with them doing us a favour and getting something against the Gunners.

Arsenal start the day in 10th 3 points ahead of us, a win would severely dent our hopes of a top 10 finish as their far superior goal difference would effectively make a six point gap seven.

AFC Bournemouth face Newcastle at the Vitality stadium and they too are fighting for their lives, it could be a bit of mixed emotions for some Saints supporters, a win for the Cherries would keep the Toon a place below us, a draw and they would jump above us on goal difference and a win although not disastrous would open up a two point gap.

So a dilemma for Saints fans, some would prefer the Cherries to lose and drop themselves further in the relegation mire whilst other would want Newcastle to lose to boost our hopes, perhaps a draw would see all Saints fans happy.

Everton take on Leicester, The Toffee's start the day a point ahead of us and with the Foxes way above us their is no mixed emotions in this one, Leicester to win and keep Everton firmly in our sights.

Last fixture of the day has no bearing on us at all, West Ham host Chelsea, but the Saints fans I speak to all see to want to see the Hammers relegated, if only because of our poor record against them in the past few years.

So although we are not playing tonight's results will have a bearing on where we finish this season, I think the top of our aim is going to be 10th place and that is attainable given that we have to play both Everton & Sheffield United, the latter of whom look a totally different side to the one pre lockdown.

I think Arsenal will be hard to catch if they win this evening and Burnley have had a surge that makes it tough to get back level with them, but I do think that 10th place will be a battle between 5 clubs, Sheff Utd, Everton, Palace, Newcastle and ourselves, but we need results to go our way.

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Sanguin added 11:21 - Jul 1 I'd most like to see West Ham relegated. To be relegated given the huge advantage they received with the Olympic Stadium and having bought multiple £35m players suggests something rotten with the club. I can't see Bournemouth staying up with their fixtures and form, but I have a soft spot for them and would like to see them stay in the Premier League. I'm pretty indifferent about Watford and Villa.

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highfield49 added 12:22 - Jul 1 To be honest I think I'd prefer that we take the opportunity to give some of the squad players some game time in the coming weeks. McCarthy, Long, Stephens, Valery and PEH for example are not going to give us anything to build on in the future and the likes of Gunn, Vokins, McQueen, Djenepo, Boufal and Adams all need time on the pitch now the pressure's off. As for relegation candidates I'd rather keep Norwich up and take ten points off West Ham's total just to get them relegated. Yup, you're right, I loathe WHU and their loveable cheeky chappy supporters. Fairly indifferent about the rest so wouldn't bother much who went down with the wonderful 'ammers and their bubbles.

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TimSaint added 12:31 - Jul 1 The games are actually on Wednesday night - ie tonight. The fixtures for Thursday are Sheff Utd v Spurs and Man City v Liverpool. Back to tonight then and I would like....... Bournemouth to probably draw. Obviously I don't want Newcastle going above us, but equally I would quite like Bournemouth to go down, as they have had long enough to build a bigger stadium than their current League 1 sized, should be up for FFP with all their player spending and I'm sick of the media (and their) view that their games v Saints are local derbies. Leicester to win - we have Everton soon, so need them to be on poor form and maybe get a few Red Cards and injuries etc !! :-) Chelsea to win - Know a few WHU fans and would be great to see them go down. Plus we cannot ever seem to beat them since that 3-0 away at the London Stadium and that only just last min Charlie Austin pen in a 3-2 under MauPell. (plus I wouldn't mind Villa staying up).

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wibbersda added 14:11 - Jul 1 Can't see where you are coming from with Cherries to go down. They are not our rivals, and most have a soft spot for our local cousins! No threat and good to have south coast teams to play, for me anyway.
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Saidou added 14:12 - Jul 1 I used to be an admirer (not a fan) of Westham just like I am now with Everton. But I began disliking them 4[?] years ago when one of their most vocal fans on YouTube said ” Southampton is a Shit team”. He doubled down on his words the following weekend after his colleagues told him that we were not happy with what he said. A Westham defeat has since felt as good as a Saints win for me. And I cant wait for them to get relegated. Which is a shame because I think most of their fans seem like nice people. But this shows how much I care about Southampton. Am a Red and white.

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KriSaint added 16:22 - Jul 1 I may be a hopelessly optimistic fool but having thought it over and looked at the table and remaining fixtures for us and the teams around us, I will not be particularly satisfied with anything less than a no. 8 place. I think we now have a balanced team that fully understands and likes Ralph´s tactics - and the overall quality to achieve a no. 8 place in the table. COYS.

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halftimeorange added 17:02 - Jul 1 I beg to differ with most of the above. I would like WHU to survive as my next door neighbour is a fan and I wouldn't like to see a nice bloke like him up sticks and return to the bosom of the East End in a fit of pique. I have offered, in that event, to unscrew his Anne Boleyn Ground wall plaque and carefully wrap it up to be transported with him. One has to show a bit of sympathy towards normally generous opposing fans.

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dirk_doone added 19:27 - Jul 1 All the mid-table teams are winning. We could finish 14th with more points than we finished 8th with under Puel. I remember the last game that season, when we lost at home to Stoke, we could have finished 12th but all the other results went our way. We finished with just 46 points and were 15 points behind 7th-placed Everton. This season, I reckon we'll get 50.
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