The biggest gripe for Saints fans this season has been the lack of goals, part of that has to be the fact that Charlie Austin has been out for three months, but now he is back and it could be crucial.

Saints fans have bemoaned a lack of goals from the team this season and although Mauricio Pellegrino's tactics had a lot to do with that, perhaps the loss of Charlie Austin since mid December is the biggest factor.

It is a sign of how poor we have been in front of goal that Austin is still our leading scorer with 6 goals from 5 Premier League starts plus another 11 off the bench, that gives hm a ratio of a goal every 2.66 games and indeed given that so many of those have been off the bench in terms of minutes per goal it is tremendous.

Indeed given that Saints have played 11 League games since his injury, if he had maintained that ratio then he would have another 4 goals to his name and that would have made a big difference to at least one or two results and those extra points would make the league table look a lot better today.

A lot was made of the impact that changing a manager can have on a team earlier this season as we saw the likes of Swansea and Crystal Palace make a change and benefit from a burst of wins, now Saints have done that and it is hoped that Mark Hughes can shake up the side and get the 3 wins that would see us safe in the run in.

But perhaps the biggest factor is going to be the return of Charlie Austin from injury and his ability to put the ball in the back of the net, if we had had him over the last three months how many of those draws could we have turned into wins, I would have said at least two and that would see us in 14th today.

We can't turn back the clock but we now have the chance to change the season, the return of Austin will be like a new signing, our rivals for the drop have played all their cards, they have changed managers and the transfer window is closed, we have kept ours close to our chest, now we have made that managerial change and we have the return of our leading scorer, we are able to do something different and that wil be crucial.

But it might not just be the League that Austin makes a difference, we also have the little matter of a Cup semi final, I would not bet against Charlie Austin having a big say in that.

The chant at Wigan was about Mark Hughes keeping us up and winning the cup, but I just have that feeling that it might be Charlie Austin who has the biggest influence in the final weeks of the season.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 10:15 - Mar 22 He enjoys scoring against West Ham too. This game is going to be huge.
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KriSaint added 11:35 - Mar 22 Yeah, some spokesman from West Ham said publically a few years ago that Austin was too big a risk to sign because he had "practically no functioning ligaments left in one of his knees"..... Austin didn´t like that comment and - yes indeed - he enjoyes scoring against West Ham.
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KriSaint added 11:44 - Mar 22 West Ham will probably not be happy if Austin is back. I hope he will play at least 30 minutes in the game.
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Kemp_Not_Martin added 12:55 - Mar 22 But can he keep fit and play the remaining 8 games and cup games? Will Hughes (be allowed to) drop Carillo?
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KriSaint added 14:02 - Mar 22 Kemp_Not_Martin, I think Hughes has totally free hands to pick whoever he wants to in our team for the rest of the season.. Let´s hope Austin can keep fit. Maybe not play him more than 30-45 minutes in each game.
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landerwal added 14:23 - Mar 22 Why drop Carillo in favour of Austin. Unless we go back to a one up front formation, it makes sense to use a Garillo/Austin or Gabriadini pairing in attack. Austin and Gabriadini are both picked for their scoring ability not making goals. Carrillo has provided assists for goals and it was his run in the box taking the defender with him that provide the space for Hojbjerg to run into and score against Wigan. I don't see Austin doing that. From what I have seen of Garillo, he is a good player and one that I believe will turn out to be a good buy giving Austin and Gabriadini goal scoring opportunities and scoring a few himself..After all, many were demanding the transfer out of Hojbjerg in the close season. Not a good idea in retrospect.

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AirFlorida added 20:28 - Mar 22 Is there a date set for his return?
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