If Saints are going to come through a difficult injury hit period then the key is going to be Victor Wanyama.
Ronald Koeman has already noticed a change in Victor Wanyama in the short time he has been at the club, at the start of this season Wanyama was considered as having a good first year with Saints, but there were inconsitencies in his game that meant that there was little to choose between him and Jack Cork.
Indeed this was the case at the beginning of the season as Koeman rotated the pair as the situation demanded, as a rule of thumb, Wanyama seemed to be preferred away from home were we needed to be able to dig in and be combative and Cork chosen when the manager felt that we were stronger in midfield and needed to use the ball rather than win it.
But in recent weeks Wanyama has come to the fore, he has added to his game something that wasn't quite there before and that is a coolness on the ball and in distributing it, last season that was not there and too often he would give the ball away cheaply, this season as the months have gone by he has come on in leaps and bounds.
But it is easy to forget just how young Wanyama actually is, his sheer physical presence belies his actual age, he only turned 23 in June of this year.
What this means is that as a footballer he is still developing, certainly when he arrived at Saints still only 21, although he had played for two years for Celtic and also for Beerschott in the Belgium league, he did not have regular week in week on experience in a truly competitive league and any player needs that if he is to progress.
That meant that Wanyama needed to grow his talents and learn just what the Premier league is all about, clearly last season was a learning curve for the Kenyan, he was good enough for the Premier but he needed to add something to truly be quality at that level.
This season he has and he now uses the ball with a lot more decisiveness, he is never going to be a playmaker and spray around 35 yard passes here and there, but in general he can now win the ball, hold it up and use it to good intent with precise accurate passing when under pressure and that was something missing last season at times, when even under no pressure his distribution was lacking.
But now Saints need Wanyama to lead from the front, with so many injuries in the centre of the park the stage is set for him to truly show his quality, we need him to use his physical presence to good effect by standing firm and stirring his colleagues on by example.
This time last year we would perhaps not have been able to ask that of Victor, but a year on he has that experience and maturity needed and we can now do so with confidence that he will respond.