Saints head to the North East needing to make sure all the good work of the last couple of weeks is not wasted.

Saints have undoubtably had a couple of weeks to remember and pushed themselves into a position that no one would have expected a month ago, however all of that good work will go to waste if we don't capitalise on that and win at Newcastle and in the next few games.

The only problem Is that we will have to do it without arguably our three best players this season so that is going to make it that much harder, however we although we don't have the quantity in the squad that some would say you need to keep up the challenge we certainly have the quality and the good thing about this squad is that we have the versatility with so many players able to play in more than one position.

This could prove vital and if the injury ravaged squad can get us through the this game then by the time we appear in the league again we might have a player or two back to bolster the squad.

Beating the Mags would do two things firstly it would effectively knock them out of the chasing pack and would mean we would have virtually secured what would have been our initial aim for this season and that is a top 10 place and secondly it could mean we could find ourselves six points ahead of fifth placed Arsenal should they lose at Manchester City tomorrow.

But what side will Ronald Koeman put out, he is had to second guess at the best of times, but today it will be even harder, his first decision is who to play in the holding roles, normally Jack Cork would be a certainty, but having not played in the first team in six weeks and with only 45 mins for the U21 side under his belt Koeman has to decide whether to risk Cork at the start and try to get a good 60 mins out of him as he did with Elia at Old Trafford or save him for the second half to batten down the hatches.

One thing is for sure Koeman will think deeply how he approaches this game and that has been the key to where we are.

But although Newcastle will be no push overs they themselves have their problems, they too have a big injury list and players missing, but they are also in limbo after the departure o manager Alan Pardew to Crystal Palace, this could be key to a Saints victory and we need to use his and turn the screw and with it the crowd, although many Newcastle fans will have been glad to have seen the back of Pardew , they will not be happy with the lack of a replacement or indeed being linked with anyone that excites them, if Saints get the lad then that could turn the atmosphere nasty.

So Saints are in a great position and now have a great chance to surge forward it is going to be hard and injuries are not going with us, but we can triumph.

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