The Premier League is starting to get a familiar look about it as Manchester United leaped above West Ham, Swansea and Arsenal .

Saints are surrounded by illustrious company after Saturday's round of fixtures with Chelsea pulling away a little and both Manchester club's hovering, this weekend's games have so far seen some of the challengers drop away whilst other emerge and Saints can now see that the race for the top spots is starting to get serious as it usually does at this time of year.

So Saints task is even more clearer than it was even a couple of days ago, they need to despatch Aston Villa on Monday evening to keep the chasing pack at bay and that will set us up nicely for the visit of the Mancunian duo in the next few weeks.

Surprise club of the weekend so far is Newcastle who jumped in to the top I've whereas barely a month ago they were seemingly a club in turmoil with former Saints boss Alan Pardew.

We all knew that December would be a crucial month is separating the wheat from the chaff, but if we needed any reminding then this weekend has been it, Saints credentials as genuine top four challengers will be tested over the next month or so, but you just have the feeling they might have the attitude and team spirit to come through

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