Saints travel to Crystal Palace for the 3rd round of the FA Cup, but it looks like it will be chaotic not only due to the kick off times, but as it falls on a day that there is due to be a train strike and to add to all this there are a couple of other fixtures in London.
Saints trip to Selhurst Park has been confirmed for Saturday January 7th with a 12.30 kick off, that would normally entail an early start in order to get to South London for the kick off, but it is now made worse by the fact that a train strike is due to be held on this day.
Technically South West Railways are not part of the strike, but they will be affected and at best this will see a much reduced timetable.
So for those going by train it will mean that potentially the normal train route via Clapham to Selhurst will be severely disrupted if it is working at all.
Is South Western Trains run services to Waterloo, then there is the option of going to Norwood Junction via London Bridge, but again will there be a service ? Southern Trains are not involved in the strikes but will they be able to run even if they want to.
London Overground will also be part of the strike, although the Underground should be running as normal, although it is impossible to get near to Selhurst Park on the Underground.
But even if there are trains running, there is the potential for chaos in London, kicking off at the same time as Saints are Tottenham Hotspur, whose visitors are Portsmouth, that on a normal day would be a recipe for trouble with thousands of Saints & Pompey fans converging towards Waterloo via Clapham.
Not to mention that going via London Bridge would also bring Millwall & Sheffield united fans into play, that game kicking off at 3pm.
So perhaps the only people relieved that this strike is happening on the day are the Metropolitan Police and their colleagues in the British Transport Police, instead of a busy day and thousands of Saints & Pompey coming into close conflict, there will be few passengers on the network and it will be easier to spot potential trouble.
But the end result is that it is going to be difficult to get to Selhurst Park for Saints fans and perhaps to a lesser extent Pompey fans going to Spurs, that will mean that many who would have gone by train will have to go by road and that in itself with cause jams on the road system, although it will mean that both sets of supporters will avoid each other in the main.