Saints recent good form has pushed them within sight of safety, but often the last mile is the hardest of all.
Saints are no longer talked of as relegation candidates, three straight wins has seen us rocket up the table and away from the drop zone, however with safety firmly in sight, pushing ourselves over that safety line might be the hardest task of all, being so near yet so far, is a mental hurdle we need to overcome and overcome quickly.
I still feel that 38 points will be the total to beat to stay up, but it could easily be a point or two above that, looking at the current table, everyone in the relegation fight bar Wigan (discounting Reading & QPR who look doomed) are averaging over a point a game, so if that trend continues safety will possibly be a fraction over 38.
This being the case we need to make sure we surge ahead from that 38 point mark as quickly as possible to dispel any linerging doubts and not give the clubs below a chance to get us within their sights, to put it simply idealy we would get three points from Swansea & West Brom as a minimum and that would see us safe, although two points would be acceptable.
The nightmare situation is that we lose to both Swansea and West brom and are then faced with a tough trip to Spurs, lose that as well and its likely that the clubs below us will be breathing down our necks and as we know in relegation clashes from the past, its better to be chasing than trying to stay ahead, if we did suffer three straight defeats then it could become critical and the two games against strugglers Sunderland and Stoke although looking meaningless to us now could suddenly be six pointers.
Wigan's ability to fight at the end of the season shouldnt be underestimated, they might look a long way behind now, but if we lose at Swansea and they win it wont look so far then and there are several teams down at the bottom who will be looking over their shoulders.
Many will say that we are safe, but how many other clubs have said that over the years and then found out that isnt the case, two years ago Birmingham City sat on 38 points after 33 games, with the league Cup in their trophy cabinet and a Europa League campaign to look forward to everything looked rosy for the Blues especially with a five point gap between them and the bottom three, as we all know five games later and Birmingham had only gained one more point and went down, yes Wigan are seven points behind as we speak, but if they win their game in hand the gap between us and the bottom three would only be four points, one less than the Blues gap was, the message is clear, "count your chickens before the eggs are hatched at your peril"
Hopefully in a few days time this article will be redundant and Im sure that now there are many who will slag it off as being negative and tell me how we are looking for a top ten finish not near the bottom, but these were the exact thoughts of Birmingham supporters back then, they sat only two points off the top ten spot, ironically held by Villa on 40 points and fancied their chances of finishing above their local rivals to really rub it in and cap Birmingham City's best ever season, the reality as we all know now is far different, Blues werent the first club for that to happen to and they wont be the last, we have to make sure that we are not the next !