The only thing for certain is the crowd wont be so big as at the last meeting.

Saints take on Carlisle in a repeat of the JPT Final, although this time there wont be so many supporters of either side watching.

Alan Pardew has spoken of two things, the first that he wont give up on promotion till its mathematically impossible and the second of the need for the supporters to turn up and continue to support the team.

With regard to the first, he is absolutely right to state this and whilst some would sneer and say he is living in cloud cuckoo land, I am not one of those, the manager has to motivate his team, in his heart Pardew will probably know the game is nearly up, however he cant say that publicly all he can do is put his team out, win the game and then hope that when he gets back to the dressing room the results from elsewhere have gone our way.

He is right to encourage the supporters to attend in droves as well, he knows that if the Chairman sees a big crowd and behind the manager as well then that will bode well for the continuity of the club, its all well and good to say fine words about the team and the manager on the internet, but what counts is bums on seats, if Saints fans want to make sure Alan pardew is at the Club next season then they need to show him their support in these final two home games, both by turning up and vocally.

If fans do this it will help Nicola Cortese in his planning for next season, the Chairman needs to see the core support is there so he can back the manager financially in the next 12 months, his thinking will not have been helped by such a poor crowd on Tuesday for such an important game.

Team wise i expect Pardew to stick pretty much with what he went with on Tuesday, yes he got it wrong with substitutions, but show me a manger that doesnt from time to time ! What counts is Saturday and getting it right against Carlisle.

Saints showed at wembley how they can put a side to the sword and sadly this will probably mean that Carlisle set up much in the same way that Oldham did, however with the right preparation as was the case at Wembley there is no reason why we shouldnt repeat the dose.

Photo: Action Images

Southampton Polls