We all know what Saints have to do, but what about their rivals at the top ?
Of course if Saints do their bit and win at Burnley then they will end the weekend in pole position, but it would also be nice to see our promotion rivals falter and allow us to start to open up a gap, in terms of a top six finish, we have done that, we are six points ahead of dropping out of the play off spots, but we have to aim higher than that now, keep winning and hope our rivals fail.
The two big games of the weekend though are not on Saturday but on FRiday evening and Sunday lunchtime, first up is Brighton V Leeds tonight, this is perhaps the most important in our terms as Brighton could leap frog us back to the top if they win, so that is the result we would least like to see, fortheir part Leeds are starting to pull back up the league after a shaky start, they sit on 10 points and a win for them would put them in the play off spots albeit perhaps only for a day or so, a Leeds win would be good, however sometimes its better to see two teams drop two points each and this is perhaps one of those games.
Likewise in the Sunday fixture with Cardiff at home to Leicester, the Bluebirds will be looking to manouevre themselves into a position to jump into the top two in the next week or so, so from our point of view we would like to see them drop points, the same could be said of the Foxes, they have spent big and are now looking to get up a head of steam and post their notice of intent in the promotion race, in the long haul they are going to be there or thereabouts like Cardiff, so a draw in this game will suit Saints best.
Middlesbrough have an easy looking game, at home to Ipswich, at least at first thought, but the Tractor Boys are picking up and if they achieved an unlikely win then it would put them on the fringes of the play offs, a home win looks likely, anything else would be a bonus for us.
Perhaps the team with the easiest game of the weeknd are Derby County who host Millwall, it looks another home banker and its hard to see anything other than a win for the Rams over the Lions a result that will keep up the pressure on us.
Its a weekend of home bankeers at West Ham entertain Peterborough and again it would be a brave man who would put money on the Posh even getting a point, a win for the Hammers will increase the pressure on us as they like Leicester look to start to gather momentum and push for the top.
All in all its a difficult weekend for Saints made even harder by the fact that not only are the five clubs below us all at home and we are away, but that is the case as well in midweek, with Brighton playing Palace, Derby hosting Barnsley and West Ham at home to Ipswich again all three that you would put down as home wins, the only chink of light for us is that Boro play Leicester.
If Saints can sit at the top of the Championship on Wednesday evening they will have come through a tough week, indeed I would say if they can still be in the top two then they will have done very well, to do that means taking four points from our two away games, thats why its imperative we get off to a good start from our duo of games by beating Burnley.