The stage is set at St Mary's, one side is desperate for the points and could see their season collapse if they lose and the other can play with confidence and without fear, for a change it is not Saints who are desperate.
Liverpool arrive at St Mary's knowing that anything less than a win will see their title challenge crumble and hand the initiative to Manchester City and this is where Saints hopes lie, can Liverpool hold their nerve or will they succumb to nerves as they did a few years ago in a similar position.
Certainly in the last two months they have struggled and although they still have lost only once, their last 9 League games have seen them win 5 but draw 4 against sides they really should have been beating, in those wins they have struggles at times needing a last minute own goal in their last game to beat Spurs and an 81st minute penalty to beat now relegated Fulham.
Of course they are a very good side but they have their weak spots and it is up to us to explit them.
Essentially though this has been a good week for us, we have beaten Brighton and seen Cardiff lose twice and this has moved us a step nearer safety, tonight would be nice to win or even draw, but it is not essential, this is the last true tough fixture of the last six and we have a big gap between ourselves and the last relegation spot we can play without fear.
But we will have to be on top of our game, we had a lot of luck against Spurs and could easily have lost that game, we have defensive weaknesses that stop us putting together a good run of games and these have seen us gift soft goals in the past couple of months that without those individual errors would have already have seen us safe and looking at the top 10-12 as a target and not just making sure that we don't fall prey to a Cardiff revival.
That means digging in and letting Liverpool showboat rather than punish us.
Danny Ings will sit this one out still being officially a Liverpool player and that leaves us short up front but Ralph Hasenhuttl hasn't done badly without him so that is an issue but not a major one.
The Austrian has shown that he can adapt not just to losing players through injury and suspension but tactically as well and that bodes well for this evening
We need everything to go for us tonight, 11 players playing to the top of their game, a crowd up for it as they were against Spurs and then we can hopefully press home in the final quarter when Liverpool nerves will jangle.
e need to be patient first and not be worried about not scoring or for that matter if we concede, we have to play our game and that involves staying in the game and attacking with pace.
On the pitch this will be an away game for us so off it we need more than ever to make sure the support is home.
Liverpool deserve respect for what they have achieved this season more than any other in the Big Six, we should not take them lightly.
Saints fans are fond of slagging off Liverpool fans saying that they have lost their passion and can't create an atmosphere any more, tonight is the night to try and prove that, silence the away support both on and off the pitch and make it one of those memorable nights at St Mary's or for that matter at the Dell, we could beat Liverpool back in the 1980's when we were somewhat of a bogey side at the old ground with some great memorable wins under the lights, lets do that tonight !