Saints travel to Vicarage Road looking to replicate their last visit back in the promotion season of 2011/12.
A lot of things have changed since Saints last visited Watford in February 2012, the only player left from that starting line up who is likely to play is Jose Fonte with Kelvin Davis perhaps on the bench.
But this game is just as important as back then with Saints needing to get ou season kick started and fast, although we sit on exactly the same number of points after two games as we did a year ago, the nature of the defeat against Everton has given some of the more pessimistic Saints fans a feeling of doom and gloom.
But the fact is that after five competitive games this season we have lost only once, whilst it cannot be denied that we are not firing on all cylinders at present, the fact remains that we are competing in games and if we can cut out the errors in the opening Premier League fixtures then there is no reason why we cannot push on into the top half of the table and more in the coming weeks.
Hopefully these weeks will hopefully see at least one new arrival as well as the return from injury of some key players to the team, against Everton last week we started without three players who would have been in that starting line up in Caulker, Bertrand & Clasie, thats almost a third of our outfield numbers, that is a big loss for any squad, Im not saying the result would have changed but certainly the height of Caulker or the pace of Bertrand would have helped.
So Saints make the relatively short trip to the land of Elton John needing to win, not only for our league position or to placate a few mutterings in the stand, but to start to show that the team is starting to gel, as stated we have the same number of points as last year, but it was the third game of the season at West Ham we really kicked in and went on a run that made people stand up and look at what we were achieving.
So Saints need to go to Waford and win and win well, OK just win the well bit can come later.
I do not expect the team to be too much different from the one that started on Thursday evening, the only possible changes I can see is that perhaps Cedric Soares could come back in at right back for Yoshida, that would be harsh as Yoshida played well and added strength in that position but it was at the expense of the attacking options that Soares offers.
Another change could be Jay Rodriguez drops to the bench, he is still lacking a bit of confidence at the moment and it could be that Long comes back into the side or even Tadic for James Ward Prowse.
Saints are not playing badly, they are just making errors and lapses of concentration that are being punished at present, we need to cut these out and there is not a lot wrong, the burden of expectation is weighing heavily with some supporters who need to realise that one bad result does not mean we are in trouble.
The difference between this season and last is that we did not start with key players injured, we had a side that had gelled together in pre season and kicked into gear, that will happen this season as we sign a player or two more and get the injured back to full fitness.
Saints supporters need to stay behind the team and not pick on individuals, Matt Targett has come in for some stick in some quarters, but he was excellent last year when he played and is still learning his trade, lets not destroy him before he gets the chance to really show his talent.
As I say there is not a lot wrong with Saints that cant be put right fairly quickly, I have every confidence that Ronald Koeman will now prove that.