Saints travel to Selhurst Park aiming to make if four league victories in a row against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Saints have found Selhurst Park a happy hunting ground recently having won their last three league encounters with the Eagles.

The first of those was in 2011/12 when a Rickie Lambert brace gave them a 2-0 win as they closed in on promotion from the Championship.

Then in 2013/14 a Jay Rodriguez opportunist goal proved to be the match winner in a 1-0 win.

Last season Saints went up to Palace on Boxing Day and after the scoring was opened by Sadio Mane in the first half, a goal apiece from Ryan Bertrand and Toby Alderweireld put Saints in the driving seat early in the second half, a late consolation from Scott Dann four minutes from time was nothing other than a consolation.

Saints travel on Saturday sat in 12th place with the Eagles soaring in 6th, but so tight is the Premier League at present a fourth win in a row at Selhurst will propel Saints above Palace by a point.

So this will be Saints target, they will feel that although the Villa result was disappointing it did break the sequence of defeats and in that aspect will have changed the mood in the squad, they will go to Palace with a little more confidence knowing that if they keep things tight and do not let the lapses in concentration and individual errors back into their game then they can win this.

The fact that Saints are only two points off of 6th place should emphasise to those fans that Saints squad is not good enough, just how close we are to emulating last season, as i have said in other articles this week, a late winner against Villa would have propelled us level with both the Eagles and West Ham and the league would look a lot more rosier.

The Saints squad is stronger than last season, but it has been blighted by individual error, cut that out and they will be back on track.

Photo: Action Images

stmichael added 13:06 - Dec 9 Stop coming out with the line our squad is better than last season. It blatantly isn't. Its bigger yes but better NO. We have replaced Schneiderlin and Clyne but the new players to date have been nowhere near the standard of those players and infact have not even been used by the manager on occasions. You cannot confuse quantity with quality. Infact unless we make a couple of loan signings this window we will have less options then we had in the 2nd half of last season.

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SaintNick added 13:48 - Dec 9 After 16 games last season we had 26 points, at the moment we have 21 points from 16 , a win on Saturday would mean that we would only be two points less than the same number of games. Of course we have to win at Palace on Saturday, but if we do then there is little between what the two squads achieved now and last year. So to say the squad "blatantly" isnt as good is just plain bedwetting. Yes we have not started as good as last year and some of our signings have not settled in as quickly as we would like, but overall the squad is stronger and can cover injury more something that last seasons squad could not do, so yes Schneiderlin is better than Clasie & Clyne better than Soares, but Schneiderlin missed a third of our games last season and we went to pot without him, Clasie has played in some great wins so dont bleat like a sheep We are still on course to emulate last season, especially when you consider how few points we got in the final third of it due to those injuries and suspensions, perhaps losing Schneiderlin would cost us 3 points a season, but a bigger squad might gain us 5 that we didnt get last season because we were having to play the likes of Isgrove, Djuricic, hesketh etc in games we lost because we did not have replacements of the standard of Clasie or Romeu To say we would have less options than in the second half of last season is just poor mathematics Football is all about ifs and buts, but if we had scored another goal against Villa and then won at Palace this years squad would have more points than last years, of course we have to do that yet, but it proves the point there is actually very little between the squads and certainly not enough to use the word "Blatantly"

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SaintBrock added 15:57 - Dec 9 absurdWe are not 2 points off 6th place and I wish people would stop using this type of absurd statistic. Most of the clubs above us will win on Saturday so if we advance at all after an unlikely win it may be by only one or maybe two places at most. It is patently ridiculous to expect everyone but us to lose. If we draw it'll be a good result on current forms with Palace storming at the moment and our inability to hit the side of a barn from 6ft.

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IWOZTHERE added 16:15 - Dec 9 Hmmm, Something touched a nerve! Very surprised you're maintaining this dogma. I'll come back when I've stopped fuming.
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harrydunn999 added 22:36 - Dec 9 I fully understand the need for positive thinking and to look forward and not back. But I also agree it's unlikely every team above us will lose and I also fear a bad result. The argument about the squad is a valid one, personally I feel they did strengthen the depth and I think this was in preparation for a Europa league campaign that would allow youngsters and fringe players opportunitys. I also think it's a fact that while we have strengthen the squad,the actual first team is undoubtably weakened from last season. Key players in key positions have for the most part been replaced- the one glaring exception has been schnedierlin-who was the captain on the pitch without he armband- all the play went thru him and likewise the whole defensive structure revolved around his position and play. That position is hard to fill,hence why we got 25 million for him. I still trust koemans judgement and pray that classie will become the player we all expect, all our recent foreign additions have struggled adjusting at this time of the season-the only difference being is classie didn't have the benefit of a pre-season as his untimely injury lost all the hard work. I really do have to also point out how little Wanyama had contributed in the absence of his partner, I don't think he has justified his supposed price tag or progressed in his consistency from last season. I trust in Korman and hope he has a plan for Saturday and 3 points to set us up for another three against Poncho !!

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IWOZTHERE added 00:18 - Dec 10 I don't think there's any point in arguing, Nick's made his mind up and is starting to act like the worst of the Echo posters, resorting to disparaging comments about valid views expressed, even though these views are in the majority. I've preferred this site because it usually covered the middle ground and posters weren't denounced for their opinions. Seems now there's only one opinion that matters!

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uaesaint added 05:30 - Dec 10 If RK not renew his contract..... I think we sould get monk onboard now to replace him when he leaves and he will .... what Swansea have done is wrong
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