Saints start the day in 7th and Crystal Palace sit in 19th, but what will the gap be by 5pm on Saturday as the league starts to take shape after half a dozen fixtures ?

Saints go into the fixture with the Eagles with high expectation's, sitting in 7th on 8 points they know that a win against the Premier League new boys could propel them as high as 3rd come the end of the day, but conversely a defeat could see them staring over their shoulders with Palace only two points behind, as Liverpool found last weekend, with the league so close in these early stages it is just as easy to drop a few places before you know it.

The big question is whether Mauricio Pochettino will persevere with Rickie Lambert and Osvaldo in the same team after three straight league games and neither firing on all cylinders, publicly the manager has backed both his players especially Lambert, but those present at Anfield will attest that it is a formation that benefits neither player and therefore not the team, Lambert was withdrawn just after the hour up on Merseyside and to be truthful we looked a better team for the change in tactics and formation, perhaps with this being a home game Pochettino will give the formation another go, but he and indeed the two players will know that if it fires blanks for a fourth time, then changes will have to be made.

Elsewhere in the team it will be pretty much business as usual, the keeper and back four are picking themselves at the moment with a series of outstanding displays, in midfield I expect the only real question to be asked in the centre, if Lambert is axed and Saints revert to the more rigid formation employed by Pochettino last season and indeed in the opening game of this, then who will play in the central midfield attacking role ?

Ramirez will hope that a stunning goal against Bristol City will have helped his cause, certainly in the opening two home league fixtures we have lacked imagination and flair in the final third and Ramirez is the obvious choice to provide that, however perhaps the manager could bring in Lallana to that role and employ Jamie Ward Prowse in a wider role, if Osvaldo was to be employed full time as the lone striker bringing in Ramirez would make sense, the Italian nternational is faster and more mobile than Lambert and could be better suited to the Uruaguayan's passing game, Ramirez has an eye for a through ball, but last season he had no real options in that it really wasn't Rickie's game to run the channels and latch on to a defence splitting pass, in that department through Osvaldo would certainly be better suited.

With two home games in a row before the International break, Saints have a great chance to make a statement of intent, but to do so they have to break down the lower table teams when they come to St Mary's, as Sunderland and West Ham showed, when a team gets men behind the ball Saints have found it hard to break them down, Sunderland are the Premier's worst defence, yet it took a last minute defenders header to earn a point, Palace will be more of the same getting men behind the ball and going on the break, Pochettino will be aware of his teams failings in the past two games and perhaps will want to do something different this time out.

There has been much talk of Saints champion's league aspirations, but to do that we need to take all three points in games like this, do it and follow it up next week against Swansea and I think we might just make a few eyes raise and a few pundit's sit up and notice, I think ultimately 7th would be the highest we could attain, but we have certainly made the start to suggest we could be this years surprise team from the non top six also rans.

I think Saints will win and I think if the manager makes the right decisions we will win well, but it is going to take some bold moves from the manager and this weekend we will again need him to show just why he was brought to the club.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 10:30 - Sep 27 Yea, I don't know anything either! But what I do know for sure is Saints will win 6 - 0 and Holloway will get sacked.
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GNSaint added 13:47 - Sep 27 great article as always. They'll park the bus and I'm going to sit there getting myself wound up. Come on lads, get an early goal then open them up ..
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saintmark1976 added 19:50 - Sep 27 Nick,are you Osvaldo's agent or are you just obsessed with attempting to make a story out of very little? I truly think that you need to get out more. As I have posted before there are far worse attacking players than Lambert in the current team.Why not have a pot at those with very poor goals per game ratios rather than this continual rant about who plays centre forward?

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davepid added 08:37 - Sep 28 Gn saint , an early goal! When did we last score one of those or even a first half league goal? COYR
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SaintNick added 11:49 - Sep 28 Im not osvaldos agent, but some on here don't appear to be able to accept any comments about Rickie Lambert unless they are gushing in praise, its not a question about goals per game ratio its a question about formation and about players jobs in that formation. When I do a preview or article I try to be subjective rather than just make it like the official site where everything is just a positive slant on things. Fact is as I have put in another article we have scored only 3 times this season, 1 a penalty and the other 2 headers from the centre halves from dead ball situations, we have not scored from open play, this is a worry, certainly Pochettino is worried after all its his opinion that counts and he is the one who has spoken of Lamberts mobility, he hasn't chosen to bring up other players. Don't shoot the messenger, im only commenting on what I see

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