Saints take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park needing a win to push them up the table and give faith back to a section of their fan base.
Saints go up to South London as favourites to win this game, why ? because last season Palace were a poor team, this season they have barely improved it and they are in turmoil, whereas we are a squad that finished 8th last year, we lost no major players and we have made a couple of significant signings, not to menton that last year saw us without three of our best players for over half the season.
So we should be going up in positive mood looking to get a win that will push us right up the league table and kick start our season.
The issue is scoring goals, but it is not that we don't have the players to score them, but we are not creating the chances to get them in the right positions on enough occasions, that is the key to Mauricio Pellegrino's season.
So for the trip to Crystal Palace it is about back to basics.
Fistly though I do not expect to see Virgil Van Dijk play any part in this game, he is not ready, but the first step is to get him back into the squad and get people used to him being around, not just from his team mates perspective but also the supporters, the sting needs to be taken out of his return and that means doing it gradually, I expect him to travel but I dont think he will make the bench as that would mean having two central defenders on it.
The big question in the back four is Yoshida or Stephens ? I can see why Stephens was given the nod against Watford in that Yoshida had been away and Watford were not a physical side up front, but Palace will be different and look to use Benteke aerial prowess, therefore I expect to see Yoshida partner Wesley Hoedt.
In midfield we need the strong central partnership of Romeu and Lemina, it worked well at Huddersfield, again I see why the manager didn't use it against Watford, but in this game we need to get control of the midfield and keep control and then impose ourselves on the home side.
I would use Redmond and Tadic as the wide men, neither of them have really hit form yet, but then again no one else has and they are better than the other options and proven on their day to create and score chances.
That leaves two key positions, the third central midfielder and up front, the options in my opinion are.
1, Gabbiadini up front, in which case put JWP in front of Romeu & Lemina and tell him to keep laying the ball through the channels for the Italian striker.
2. Austin up front to give physical presence in which case it is about getting the ball down the wing and getting the full backs to overlap, that would mean putting in Steven Davis to tidy up and lay the short ball out wide.
3. Austin up front but play Gabbiadini just behind him, give ourselves a bit more beef in attack.
I would be happy with either of these and perhaps the strength is that whatever we use we have options on the bench, indeed in the last two games Shane Long has created chances by his hassling and running, personally I think that he perhaps deserves to start the game ahead of either Gabbadini or Austin, but I don't think he will.
So as I said back to the basics which have served us so well, keep it tight at the back and in midfield and then use the wide men to attack quickly on the counter and to press the opposition.
We need to play to our strengths rather than try to get too clever about things.
This is becoming a key game because the fans are making it so due to our lack of goals and Palace's new manager, we need to sweep that to one side, take the emotion out of the game and clinically go and do a job and get the home fans on the back of their club for their actions this week.
The squad is stronger than last year, the issue last season was the manager, he is gone, we can now move forward again.