It is not often I get to write a preview for a Saints game of this magnitude, so I am going to savour it.
The build up to this game has not seemed like a cup final, initially after winning the game up at Anfield to secure our first trip to Wembley for a major cup final in 38 years it was strange, a big chunk of our supporters seemed bemused that suddenly the manager had gone from being clueless to suddenly on the verge of becoming one of the best managers the club has had in terms of actually winning things.
Since then things have settled down a bit, but there is that feeling that many have not quite grasped the magnitude of just how big this occasion is in the history of Southampton Football Club.
It is a rare chance to play a game of football where at the end of it we can lift a major trophy, in 132 years of our history this has only happened on 5 previous occasions (OK 6 if you include the 1902 FA Cup Final replay).
Saints of course start as underdogs, but this is nothing new, certainly in our previous finals that has been the case, in 1900 & 1902 we were the first non league club to play in a final and then in the modern era our 3 finals were all against just about the team of the moent at that time.
So on Sunday it will not so much be about skill levels but the will and desire to win, if we have that then this game might go down in our history.
But there are decisions to be made by Claude Puel, especially in the back four, the two full backs pick themselves and assuming that Virgil Van Dijk has not made a miraculous recovery then in the centre it will be a tough choice on who partners Yoshida, will it be Jack Stephens or will Martin Caceres make his club debut in a cup final.
Now I of course havent had the advantage of seeing Caceres in training, only Puel and his staff know his fitness level, but I am going to stcik my neck out here and say that if he is fit he should play.
That is hard on Jack Stephens, but the reality is that we need to win this game.
It will not be an easy decision though, on one hand you have the loyal club servant on the other someone who might only be here for a matter of months.
But we need class and experience and I feel that should edge it for Caceres.
In the centre of midfield Romeu and Davis are shoe ins, it is a question of who to play in the third role, does Puel try and take the game to United and play James Ward Prowse or does he go for the more defensive Jojbjerg, again a tough decision.
For me the front three pick themselves Tadic, Gabbiadini and Redmond, harsh on Shane Long but I feel that he has a big part to play in this final, just not from the start.
So my line up would be
Forster
Soares, Yoshida, Caceres, Bertrand
Davis, Romeu, Ward Prowse
Redmond, Gabbiadini, Tadic
Subs. Hassan (gk) Stephens, McQueeen, Long, Hojbjerg, Rodriguez, Boufal or Sims
That in essence is a squad that is going for it and there is good reason for that.
That reason is that we know where our weaknesses are, we also know where United's lay, we have to attack them and rely on the fact that the likes of Yoshida, Romeu, Davis, JWP and Caceres can pull out all the stops and play the game of their lives.
With big performances we can take on United and make this one of the best games of our history, indeed the second best only behind 1976, however we are not favourites and can only do so if these key players can step up to the plate and play at the level we know they are capable of, some on a more consistent level than others.
So the hour of destiny has almost arrived, whatever happens lets enjoy it and f we lose show how to do so with dignity, this has been a troubled season for Saints in many ways, but it has been far from the disastrous one some would have you believe, as I said earlier on we have had few chances for glory in our history, but this is one of them, the time for evaluating this season will be at the end of it.