Here it is, the board up the goal pray that they try to walk it in the net fixture of the season, in truth this is a free hit, if we can get out of this virtually unscathed in terms of the result and injuries then a narrow defeat is cause for celebration and we can get on with the last quarter of the season when results will count.

Truth is Saints have to go into this game with a mindset that is resolute and they shall not pass and a determination to get through the game and then concentrate on the last 10 Premier League games in which we can not only ensure safety but win a few and move up the League again, not to mention a date in the FA Cup quarter finals.

This being the case I'm quite happy to sit back and let Manchester City take another step towards another title and lets be honest if you are one of those people who think that the only way to get success is to buy it, then City's £125 million outlay last summer in the middle of a pandemic will prove your point.

Whilst the rest of football struggles financially, Manchester City plod on knowing their owners will cover all the costs and if that falls foul of the financial fair play league then if the lawyers won't get them off completely, then at least they can overturn a ban on the Champions League as long as City pay a fine that is equivalent to the transfer budget of half of the Premier League.

Whatever happens to Saints the rest of the season it won't be decided by this result, our success and failure will rely on us beating the likes of Brighton, Fulham, West Brom, Burnley & Crystal Palace not to mention Bournemouth in the cup.

These are the games I want to see our squad fit and raring to go, I don't want to see Kyle Walker Peters pull up with a muscle injury again and miss the next tow games because he has been chasing Raheem Sterling around the pitch to earn a well deserved 2-0 defeat.

Some may describe this as negative, that we should go into every game with the intention to win, but these are not normal times, we have an injury list as long as your arm and it seems someone joins it every time that we play a game.

So I want to see Ralph prioritise the Brighton game as one we can get three points in, losing this game gets us the same number of points whatever the scoreline.

So I suspect Ralph will make changes and personally this is the side I would be happy with seeing out there tonight

Forster.

Ramsey, Salisu, Bednarek, Bertrand

Djenepo, JWP, Jankewitz, Tella

Redmond, N'Lundulu

Subs, McCarthy, Vestergaard, KWP, Minamino, Adams, Armstrong, Diallo, Stephens, Watts

Not the greatest starting side that we can put out, but hey ho it is about the bigger picture and keeping our powder dry for the next two games.

Manchester City themselves are likely to make changes, they have had a tough game on Sunday and after us they have a Premier League game on Saturday followed by a Champions League game on Tuesday and then their own FA Cup quarter final at Everton the following Saturday.

This is a tough run of fixtures and Pep Guardiola will surely mix and match his squad a little.so he is likely to bring in some of his subs from Sunday, Phil Foden perhaps or Aquero, Mendy, Fernandinho, Laporte or Silva perhaps even Ferran Torres a £21 million signing from Valencia, in total those 6 cost £256 million and that doesn't really include Forren who is from their youth team.

They could even bring back Nathan Ake after injury who they spent £40 million on.

What this shows is what the rest of us our up against, City can put out two different sides who could beat most other teams in the Premier League and to be blunt they have spent 6 -8 times the amount those other teams have spent individually to do it, you do the maths.

But that if football these days, truth is there are the have and the have nots.

So I will just be glad when the game is over, I don't care whether it is 1-0 or 7-0, our goal difference is shot anyway, I just want it to be a game where we do not risk those who are just back from injury and perhaps one or two who could do with a rest anyway.

There are those that say we haven't done badly against City of late, we lost 1-0 in December but City cruised through the game it should have been 3 or 4, we beat them 1-0 in the summer that could have been 5-0 to them, we only lost narrowly in the League up there last November a late goal winning it for them, but these games are gone and we didn't have the injury issues we have now.

So get tonight over with and let the real season commence.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 15:46 - Mar 10 I don't think he can play the team you suggest against the best team in Europe. I know it is a fine balancing act but there is a very small chance we might get a point and, anyway, I doubt Ralph will invite another Manure-like fiasco. The returning players obviously shouldn't be playing if they are not fit but if they are then surely they should play. Presumably further injuries come from playing when you are not fully fit. That is a decision for the medical staff. Just for self respect I want Saints to compete - if we do that and lose 6-0 so be it. If we put the reserves out and are 5 down at HT how will we feel then??

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davidpeach added 16:33 - Mar 10 Picking Ramsey to play against Sterling and starting Jankewitz are both too risky for me. Also, I'd rest Tella. So for me some of the previously injured players do need to start, but maybe bring them off after an hour or so and give the youngsters a go then, including Watts?
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AirFlorida added 16:45 - Mar 10 I hope it's not a repeat of the last time we tried to board up the goal in Manchester!
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