Saints open up their home campaign of 2013/14 season with the visit of Sunderland and the question is will the Black Cats crossing their paths be lucky for the St Mary's club.
Last season there was often an air of predictability about the Saints line up when writing a preview of the game, there was often little changes to be made to the team and many players seemed to be nailed on week in week out, so far there has only been three arrivals but the emergence of Callum Chambers and Jamie Ward Prowse as genuine starters in the team has opened up a new dimension and in truth there are now actually very few players who can say they are automatic selections.
One of those nailed on is Artur Boruc and he again showed his class up at the Hawthorns, his last minute wonder save though should act as a warning, as well disciplined as we were, the fact still remains that we let the home side have a free header in injury time after working so hard to get a lead and without that save the mood could be a lot different amongst the fans.
In the back four only two of last week's four are sure of playing, Callum Chambers may well retain his place, but it will be interesting to see who is seen as the fist choice right back as the season progresses, will Chambers become the new Luke Shaw or will Nathaniel Clyne force his way back in, Shaw of course barring injuries is nailed on, but in the centre Dejan Lovren will play, but who will be his partner, last week it was Jose Fonte, but Yoshida was omitted after a tiring international break, will he be preferred or be on the bench ?
In midfield its far less clear cut, perhaps the only two players certain are Morgan Schneiderlin and Wanyama, after that yes you would probably expect MoPo to go with Jay Rodriguez and Adam Lallana out wide, but for the fifth position, will the manager keep with JWP, perhaps even prefer Steve Davis, or will he feel some flair is needed in home games and restore Gaston Ramirez.
Up front I expect Rickie Lambert to start with Dani Osvaldo on the bench, however the fight is on for the main man up top, there is speculation that both might be accommodated in the team long term, but I find it hard to see, in that Osvaldo wants to play up front and Rickie just isn't fit enough to play in midfield, there are some that say that we are a different club now, but till we actually prove that on the field and start hitting the top six finishes, we are still like 14/20 clubs in the Premier, if you sign a player for your club record fee of £15 million, he isn't there to provide competition for places.
Sunderland are a hard team to predict, last season they came and frustrated Saints and took all three points, not to say they came and parked the bus, they just found it easy to thwart a Saints side who lacked penetration, will that be the same this year ? lets hope not, but we do have to learn to be a bit more creative and the manager needs to develop his skills in changing tactics and formation, last year we were too rigid and predictable most of the time and often paid the price, this year we need to adapt. There are those that would say the rigidity was more by necessity than choice and that now we have the players to adapt, well we are about to find out.
Last weeks win in truth was well disciplined and well fought out, but the fact remained that we created little of note attacking wise and that has to change, it will be interesting to see what Osvaldo brings to the party.
One thing that will be strong is the Saints bench, it will include mostly players who you would actually feel confident in bringing on and not just a few making up the numbers, talking of which again it will be interesting to see where Mayuka fits in or if he fits in at all, I expect the bench to be, assuming last weeks team starts, Davis, Yoshida, Ramirez, Clyne, S Davis, Cork with the final sub being Osvaldo, that gives us some good options in all departments, however could spell the end of Mayuka.
Whats called for though is a good win, to show improvement we need to improve on last years results, we have already won at West Brom were last year was a defeat so we are already 3 points up on last season, a win against the Mackems would not only leave us looking good in the league, but again mean that we had taken six points this season where last there were none, OK whatever the result we are ahead of the game, but a victory on Saturday would really make a statement.
Sunderland as mentioned will be an unknown quality, there is no middle ground with Paulo DI Canio, his brand of management will either work spectacularly or fail in just as flamboyant fashion, he wont be happy with failure that's for sure so could be some touchline moments of madness tomorrow.
I think Saints are good enough to win this one and I have a feeling that the feelgood factor might just hurl us forward to a decent win.
Don't forget the prediction league, a good showing last week and if its a high coring game this week a chance for lots of bonus points, I suspect the bookmakers will be doing plenty of business tomorrow with Osvaldo being heavily backed to score the last goal of the game.