Wednesday sees the dawn of five busy days in the Premier League, that as well as potentially sorting out the relegation places, will also go a long way to deciding where Saints will finish in the Premier League.

As the season enters its final month there is still a lot to be decided both at the top and the bottom of the Premier League, but Saints fans are more concerned about the middle ground where the club can realistically finish anywhere between 9th & 16th.

As we start this five days of games, Leicester sit in 9th on 40 points, 1 ahead of Saints and Leeds sit in 16th on 33 points, 8 clubs sit in a log jam with only 7 points between them.

But we go into this flurry of games knowing that a lot could be sorted out and Wednesday's games sees 3 out of 4 of them with a direct bearing on Saints.

Everton V Leicester is one that has a double edged sword for Saints supporters, on one hand an Everton win or even a draw would mean that Saints could leapfrog Leicester if they win at Burnley, but on the other hand many Saints fans especially of an older generation who remember the 1980's would like to see Everton go down, if only because most football fans like seeing a so called big club getting in relegation trouble.

That means that our game at Burnley takes on extra significance, put simply its getting to last chance saloon for the Clarets, if Everton were to win and Burnley were to lose to Saints, then the 6 point gap between the two North West clubs is massive with only 6 games remaining, although after this game Everton finish the season with a raft of difficult fixtures.

Saints fans this evening will also be looking at Manchester City V Brighton, with the Seagulls just above us on one point, that looks a home banker and if it turns out that way, a Saints win at Burnley would put us two points ahead of them and we could stretch that to five if we beat them on Sunday.

Also on our radar is Newcastle V Crystal Palace, both are directly behind us on 37 points, so for Saints a draw would be the best result as it would leave both a point behind us.

Saturday sees more games that affect Saints, Leicester are at home to Aston Villa, in a game that could see the Foxes pull away from us if they do beat Villa and in turn that could create a gap between us and Danny Ings "Project" and go a long way to securing a place in the upper reaches of the middle ground, although it could make finishing 9th difficult with Leicester favourites for that spot.

Norwich host Newcastle and the hope is they will try to end the season with a flourish, although it's pretty much a lost cause for them now.

Brentford V Tottenham Hotspur is another one that affects Saints, the Bees have won a few games lately and have stormed up the league and going into this period are a point above us, a Spurs win would be a help to us, although potentially it would put Spurs on the cusp of Champions League qualification if Arsenal lose at Chelsea tonight.

Sunday of course sees us go to Brighton and we need to keep up our good record at the Amex if we are to finish above them, aside from that, the other games are more about the top or bottom of the table.

So a crucial five days, not just for Saints but for many other clubs in the Premier League.

For Saints the task is clear, win at both Burnley & Brighton and we go a long way towards a top 10 finish, lose them both and we are looking at 15th or 16th.

Photo: Action Images

highfield49 added 12:26 - Apr 20 After the thrashing from Chelsea I went into my doom and gloom mode but the points from the Arsenal match and the spirit displayed by the players certainly lifted the clouds. Now that the feeling of dread has dispersed the prospect of upcoming games against Burnley, Brighton, Palace, Brentford and Leicester certainly leave our destiny to some extent within our control. Then of course there is the Liverpool game which could be a relatively meaningless stroll for both teams or a must win game for the Scousers with Mike Dean refereeing his last match. The stuff of nightmares!

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Kenm added 13:41 - Apr 20 after we fell flat on are faces after a good run of wins, then a appalling 6-0 by chelsea !,we then slightly got our act together with Arsenal !, we flopped out of a top ten finish !, we have to get our act back working to get back to a hopeful top ten finish ?
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