Saints survival in the Premier League received a massive boost at the DW Stadium tonight as Wigan threw away a half time lead to lose to Swansea City.

A Wigan win tonight would have seen them come within a point of Saints and would have left us going into the last two games only a point above the drop zone, albeit with three clubs buffering us and that dreaded third from bottom spot.

But a see saw game up in Lancashire saw the pendulum swing first one way and then the other before Swansea finally triumphed after nine minutes of injury time, on reflection the Welsh sides winner on 76 minutes knocked the stuffing out of Wigan who had lead twice before finally capitulatiing and the final stages although nerve wracking, didnt really see the bombardment we expected from a Wigan side who even had the strange event of their third and final substitute injuring himself with his first kick off the game and having to go off leaving them with ten men for the last four minutes of normal time plus the nine of stoppage.

But this result is just what Saints needed, it leaves them four above Wigan with only two games to play and with a goal difference of plus 12 better than the Latics and also 3 goals more scored, it will take a mighty effort in their last two games to climb over us, indeed four points probably wouldnt be enough even if we lost both games and that would need them needing to beat Arsenal at the Emirates next Tuesday and then beating Villa on the final day and even then to send us down we would need the three teams below us to get at least two points, although Sunderland could effectively do that by beating us.

This result effectively also puts Stoke safe, again Wigan can equal their 41 points gaines so far and Stoke like us have a big goal difference in their case plus 13 over the Lancashire side, this means that Stoke perhaps wont be such a tough game in the fial game of the season, although on a word of caution look what Swansea did tonight from a similar position.

A good night for Saints tonight and one that takes us a step forward to safety although in this topsy turvy season no one can be sure of staying up in that bottom ten till the final whistle has been kicked.    

Photo: Action Images

DENZY added 22:10 - May 7 WELL DONE SWANSEA.
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allsaint added 22:18 - May 7 Are they playing the skates in the picture?
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sidsaint added 22:24 - May 7 Thanks Swansea, great second half, now you can go on holiday.
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saintgus added 22:31 - May 7 A massive result tonight bearing in mind that just after the cup final Wigan need to go to Arsenal and win ,even a draw for them means they can't overtake us due to goal difference , even Sunderland may settle for a point now on Sunday as I believe that would be enough for them espically having to go to Spurs last game
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Boris1977 added 22:32 - May 7 Relief, of sorts, although relaxation will not kick in until the maths are settled. We should not be in the position of relying on other teams for safety but here we are and this result should make us all a little bit happier. A winning goal from SRL on Sunday will let us all relax and 'enjoy' the stoke game (if you can enjoy what stoke do on a football pitch)
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1962saint added 22:35 - May 7 I was dreading a nail biting game against Stoke listening to scores coming in from the other teams below us. Now it looks like we may be able to relax and enjoy the conclusion to an OK first season in the Prem and contemplate who we might be signing for the next one.
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IanRC added 22:52 - May 7 It should not have been necessary for us to go through this !!
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Boris1977 added 23:11 - May 7 True IanRC but as our leader would say 'Ttogether as one' :)
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slynch added 23:50 - May 7 Poor result for Saints. Can't finish in the top 8. Oh well, it'll have to 9th.
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zonehead added 00:05 - May 8 Im glad I was getting really fed up with WBA, not only did they send us down by pompeys lame display, they then give us a pasting then go and lose to Wigan at home this season, hopefully that doesnt matter now, on to the champions league!
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bstokesaint added 06:26 - May 8 Think the neighbours must have been left scratching their heads last night. The Saints weren't playing so what was all the noise..?!! Fair play to Swansea, a thoroughly professional display which did credit to them and I'm sure all other bottom of the table sides would have appreciated it. Take note WBA. We still can't rest on our laurels, stranger things have happened than Wigan stringing 2 wins together, no matter the opponents. We need to go for a win this weekend and take a draw at worst. A point wouldn't be a disaster.

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ericofarabia added 07:32 - May 8 Ironically it looks like Wigan have virtually sealed a spot in The Championship on the same night they qualified for Europe as Man City ensured Champs League football with their win, so no matter what the score is at wembley Wigan are going to europe. I would prefer Sunderland, Villa or Norwich to go down instead.
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saint22 added 08:34 - May 8 lets not let this mean complacency, lets go out there and beat the Mackems and stay up in style!
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saintgus added 11:05 - May 8 Also worth noting That if Aston Villa lose on Saturday Saints will only need 1 point from 2 games
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ExiledSupporter added 13:21 - May 8 Sorry Saintgus, calculations not quite right here. Aston Villa have the prospect of six more points to add to their current total of 40pts ( 6 more pts very unlikely, 4 more pts unlikely, 3 more pts possible, 1 more pt probable, 0 pts improbable given current form). Saints too have the prospect of adding 6 more pts to their current total of 39pts ( 6 more pts unlikely, 4 more pts less unlikely, 3 more pts possible, 1 more pt not good but by no means impossible on current form, 0 pts improbable and not good enough but could scrape through so long as Wigan definitely don'twin at Arsenal). So AV losing against Chelsea still leaves them capable of getting three points at Wigan which could easily put them beyond our reach if we lose at Sunderland and win against Stoke, for instance. Personally I think anything less than four points from our last two games would be a very poor return and call into question the attitude of the club and the credentials of Pottechino (and the judgement of Cortese and Reed since last summer). Currently MP's 14 league games have yielded 17pts, while Adkins last 14 league games yielded 18pts. Is this a case of style triumphing over substance; it certainly makes Cortese's decision difficult to defend at this juncture although what happens during the summer in terms of a) restructuring key areas of the squad and b)our first ten results in the new season. Much too early to declare Pochetino a clear success.

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Boris1977 added 14:44 - May 8 The jury is still out on Pochetino. When the barman ran out of my local pub in the snow back in January to tell me Adkins had been sacked I wanted to punch that arrogant little tw*t NC. Adkins was learning,together with the players, how to adapt in the top flight and he make great progress in a short time. Some things have improved since NA left without doubt, notably in midfield, but this was part of a wider progression. In his defence Pochetino is learning about a new league in a new country in a foreign language and that must be bl**dy tough, so hats off to him for bravery and tenacity. Hopefully over the close season he will take a crash course in English , look at different ways lining the team up depending on the oppo and gets the opportunity to build his own team based on what we have now. If he wants to keep playing his high tempo game NC needs to equip him with the players to do so as our central defeners are not fast or technically good enough to do that. I wish Nigel Adkins was still our boss as he made me pround to be a Saints fan again after the previous 5 seasons of depression. We'll never forgot what he achievedat our wonderful club.

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Scummer added 15:56 - May 8 @ExiledSupporter I think Saintgus is right. If Villa lose on Saturday and we get at least a point against Sunderland on Sunday then we should be safe. Villa's final game is against Wigan, so they cannot both get past 40 points, which is what they would need to do with our superior goal difference. Frankly it needs to be a real set of freak results for us to go down now, and I will happily become a Chelsea supporter for two hours on Saturday lunchtime and if that doesn't work then I'll be a temporary Gooner on Tuesday night just to be on the safe side. For us to go down then both Chelsea and Arsenal would have to lose, and then Wigan beat Villa, whilst we lose to both Sunderland and Stoke (whilst Newcastle and Norwich pick up points). I think that is the only way that it could happen now. That is one hell of an accumulator bet.

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Scummer added 16:02 - May 8 Nto quite right - if we lose both games then Villa don't have to do anything. If we get a point then what I wrote is on the money. Still if we lose both the games then we deserve to be at risk. Excuse my dodgy calculations.
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