This weekend could see Saints get a bit too close to the bottom three for comfort, but that shouldnt neccessarily make everyone panic.
A season lasts 38 games and in Saints case the target for this season was always going to be about getting around the 38 point mark and staying up.
The problem has been that at certain points there have been false expectations from some, pre season many seemed to believe that Saints were going to be good enough for a top ten place at least and although that quickly receded as reality bit home in the opening games, it surfaced again after the arrival of Mauriccio Pochettino.
The truth of the matter though is that after 31 games we are in the position that we are for a reason and that reason is that we arent good enough to be much higher, yes some will point to games in which we have been unlucky in and dropped points, but 27 dropped points from winning positions, tells the story of why we arent good enough, key areas have not been addressed.
These areas can be addressed in the summer if we do stay up, but in the meantime its about getting the last 8/9 points that will see us safe.
This weekend though could see us drop uncomfortably close to the bottom three, but although we are now paying the price for all those lapses of concentration, or indeed one lapse in particular at Wigan, the fact of the matter remains that we are in charge of our own destiny and although defeats suffered by our relegation rivals will help us, its about what we get on the board.
So this weekends fixture against Chelsea is to put it bluntly not the easiest one we will have at St Mary's this season and there is a better chance that we will lose it than win it, this isnt defeatist its fact, Chelsea's away record is better than our home one. This being the case we have to accept that we cant pick up points in every game, if we do in this one it will be a bonus.
But defeat or even a draw against the Blues of Rafa Benitez leaves us wide open for wind from Villa or Wigan to respectively overtake us or get within a point and looking back to the bottom three only being one point behind us is not a comfortable view, but this is a time that we need to hold our nerve and realise that what it is going to be about in the final part of the season is holding our form and continuing to maintain at least a one point per game ratio, two wins out of our last eight games will leave us safe, assuming that we pick up a draw or two as well, to stay up we dont need to do anything impossible, just continue in the vein of form that we have all season, take away those opening four disatrous fixtures and our points per game ration is better than most in the bottom eight, so we should have every confidence in our own abilities.
So defeat against Chelsea will be a blow, it will even look like a major one should Wigan win, but all it is a blow and I for one would still keep our position ahead of all of our rivals.
The message then is clear, as those of us who went through campaigns like this in the 1990's, we have to stay behind the team both home and away and know that all we need now is two straight wins to take the pressure off, it probably wont be the Chelsea and Reading games, but after this Saturday its very doable, I would like to think we can storm towards the safety line quickly, but even if we dont, if we keep picking up points at a rate of a one per game ratio we might be very edgy but we will be fine.