With the first two games due to be played this evening, just who should Saints fans be rooting for in these and indeed the fixtures due to be played this weekend, it is not as clear cut as you would think !

Saints go into their final 9 games of the season in a little bit of limbo, they are 7 points clear of the relegation zone, but they are also only 7 points behind Tottenham Hotspur in 8th, are they looking up the table or nervously over their shoulders.

The truth is on Wednesday afternoon we don't really know, by the end this time next week it will be far clearer, but that doesn't help us with tonight's games.

The first between Aston Villa and Sheffield United at 6pm will split the Saints fan base down the middle depending on whether they are optimistic or pessimistic about the rest of the season.

For those who are a little nervous then a Sheffield United win would be the best result, it would leave Villa stranded second from bottom and 9 points adrift of us, but the Blades winning would see us 12 points behind them and if we harbour hopes of a barnstorming end to the season, it would virtually put 6th place beyond us.

If Villa should win then that would move them within 6 points of us still a big gap , but the first aim of this season has to be to guarantee safety and as quickly as possible, anything else is a bonus.

So I would say in this game, a Villa defeat or barring that perhaps a draw would be acceptable.

Which result turns out for the best will only really be shown after our game at Norwich on Friday, if we were to win that then a Villa win would perhaps be the best result for us as we are that much closer to safety, however if we lose then Villa losing would definitely be the best outcome

The second game of the day is perhaps more clear cut, we are not going to catch Manchester City, but Arsenal are only 6 points ahead of us, if they lose tonight and we beat Norwich that gap shortens to only 3 points, we could well be able to overtake them by the time the first three games have been completed.

The real crunch day though is Saturday

Watford V Leicester

Brighton & Hove Albion v Arsenal

West Ham United V Wolves

AFC Bournemouth V Palace

All three of the teams directly below us are at home, defeat at Norwich for us and at least two of them winning will see us looking over our shoulders big time and highlights just how much we need to get a result at Carrow Road, a draw would not be disastrous, but a defeat will suddenly see us looking nervously at the games on Saturday and hoping for a clean sweep of away wins.

So it is going to take a few games for the season to find it's feet again and the problem is this is very much the unknown, some teams will lose momentum and some will start to find it, our task is simple, get the job done as early as possible and not make it a nervy ending.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 12:30 - Jun 17 For those fans who expect us to pick up 27 points by the end of the season....seeing Villa win would slow down the Blades excellent season, whereas logic says you want the teams below us to lose ..or at least only draw ...and wait for us to start winning ...big time. Me ..? I just want us to stay clear of the drop zone and (hopefully) finish top half. Nuff said.

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TimSaint added 12:50 - Jun 17 We started all this 'what if' talk earlier in the season, when we were up to 9th and looking to qualify for Europe. Look how that ended up. Right now, we need to get another 6 points to stay in this division and then we can maybe try to express ourselves a little more on the pitch in the RH way. Only then, should we start looking at the table and seeing where we could potentially finish. Half way would be about right, but lets not take things for granted, so lets get those wins 2 in the bag as a priority.

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