Saints travel down to Brighton looking to get their first points of the season on the board, can they repeat last season's win ?

There is no need to ring the alarm bells at St Mary's just yet, the defeat at Burnley was a disappointment in the way we through a solid performance away in a mad 15 minute period , but the optimism returned with a good performance against a very good Liverpool side.

But the problem was we didn't get a point on the board and we really need to do that now against Brighton and that won't be easy.

The Seagulls have had a big revamp in the summer, not only changing manager but bringing in a plethora of players in the transfer window.

That brought a good start to the season with 4 points from their opening two fixtures and the Brighton fans are brimming with confidence now, but is this just a honey moon period with a new manager syndrome or do their old problems still remain.

We will find out this afternoon !

But the big question is what changes will Ralph Hasenhuttl make both in personnel and formation.

Will he stick with three central defenders of go four at the back and will it be a debut for Kevin Danso or will that have to wait till the midweek League cup trip to Fulham.

Either way the important thing is to not only put in a good performance but get points on the board and there is no reason why we should not do both.

Put simply there is little more to say in this preview that hasn't been said before, we all know the problem and that hasn't been fully solved in the summer, at least not yet.

Good teams are based on strength down the spine and that starts from the back and having not dealt with it in the last three years everyone knows our centre of defence is our weak link.

Of course we have showed that we can get away with it in some games and others we can't, hopefully today will be a day we can.

Photo: Action Images

KriSaint added 08:18 - Aug 24 This should be the type of game where Redmond can excell in a free role behind the striker(s), and if our defence does well today I think Saints can win - again - this year. Højbjerg must by now have beaten the bug that weakened him in the two first games and he should be raring to go. The team knows how important this game is, and I expect the team to fight their shorts off from start till´ finish. I look very much forward to this game. Brighton 1 - Saints 3 (Redmond, Ings, Adams). COYS!

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underweststand added 08:52 - Aug 24 The final score at Burnley was the worst result against a club who we often drew with, or played 1-0 games against. Better performance against Liverpool (except second goal when Firmino shot past 6 defenders)...but overall we might have deserved a draw ...with that elusive " luck". I suppose the media will call Brighton " a South Coast derby" but there's little long-term history for that but it is the sort of away game that we ought to win if we are going to avoid last season's relegation struggle. Away points will be crucial and we must get some ASAP.

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TimSaint added 11:15 - Aug 24 With the likes of Brighton, plus the 3 promoted teams getting points already, it is essential that we start getting points asap. It is more difficult playing catch up. Back 4 with 1 more in midfield for me today. Ings responded to being benched, with a goal, but not sure he will start ahead of Adams - who can't afford to miss any more sitters - and nor can we as a team (Ings, Yoshi et al). Think we will shade it by the odd goal in 3.

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saintmark1976 added 11:23 - Aug 24 Nick, as I posted after the Liverpool game it's goals that change games and we simply don't score enough of them. Like you I hope that the defence improves quickly. However, at the present time as much blame for lack of points rests with our profligate forwards.Lets hope that they start to put that right quickly, starting today.
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