By Saturday evening Saints will have a good idea whether they are safe or face a nail biting end to the season.
A few weeks ago too many Saints supporters where counting their chickens and talking of top ten finishes and above, those who are of a more cautious disposition spoke of how it was better to wait until the eggs have hatched first and that we needed to get the points on the board, three games since then with only two points has not yet plunged Saints back into the relegation fray but defeat at Spurs aligned with a Wigan win could start to set alarm bells ringing. No longer is their talk of tenth place although there is only three points seperating us and that spot, but things are getting shaky, perhaps many know deep down our failure to land key signig in January might come back to haunt us, what it does go to show though is that there is little to choose in this league between Wigan in the last relegation spot and Swansea in 9th.
We are in that most dangerous position where you can almost touch the finish line but are not quite there, given that we will need a very good result at Spurs on aturday to pull away under our own steam, we must therefore this weekend rely on others to lose to relieve our worries.
The game all Saints fans will be looking at is at the Hawthorns, where West Brom face Wigan, we need the Baggies to do to them what they did to us, a defeat for Wigan and even if we are beat at Spurs, they will then have to win every game to overtake us, anything less and our goal difference should be enough assuming that we didnt get another point.
A win for Wigan though would set the nerves jangling if we were to be beaten at Spurs as they would then be only five points behind with a game in hand, that game is next Tuesday and Swansea at home, should they make it two straight wins then we would be in real trouble, truly we need them to lose at Albion.
Looking at the other matches and again Im assuming in all of them that we lose at Spurs, anything we might get is a bonus, Newcastle are at West ham on Saturday and like Wigan its a 3pm kick off, again a defeat for the Toon would leave them below us, Saturday is not just about Wigan, its about covering our own behinds with other clubs still below us and struggling.
Aston Villa are at Norwich and this is a tricky one, a win for either side would see that side leapfrog us, but on a plus point it would keep the other below us, a draw would perhaps be best in that it would keep both clubs below us, however if I had to get off the fence on this one I would opt for a Norwich win as it keeps Villa down there with a do or die final game at Wigan looming.
Sunderland dont play till Monday and they host Stoke when we will find out if the Di Canio bubble has burst, hopefully it has, a win for the Mackems will see them almost safe and the chance to do that the following weekend against us, we need to see the pressure kept on them so a Stoke win would be preferable with the Potteries club almost safe and highlighting just how valuable even another point would be to us at the moment.
Of course we could win at Spurs and then many would be talking of top ten finishes again and we would probably be disapointed that West ham had beaten Newcastle for instance, but tio be blunt this season is and always has been firstly about survival and making sure we stay in the Premier next season, nothing more nothing less, Newcastle are living proof that aiming for the top five is achievable, but staying there is a different matter.
So make no mistake Saturday is crucial to Saints season and at this stage its just as important that your rivals lose games, some would say thats negative and we should do it off our own bat etc, but I say its realism, every team be they at the top or the bottom needs other teams to lose to achieve their aims, we are no different.