Even though Saints are sitting 7th in the table and could realistically go 7th on Saturday perhaps even 6th, this season does not seem to have the same buzz amongst the fans that previous ones have had.
It has been virtually a season upon season improvement for Saints over the past 6 seasons since Markus Liebherr brought the club, first we had the Johnstone Paint Trophy win that for many marked some sort of Phoenix rising from the ashes, then we had the thrill of coming strong in the second half of the season to snatch automatic promotion.
After that it was dreamworld, back to back promotions as we went straight through the Championship and then securing our place back in the Premier League for a second season.
Although there was turmoil on the pitch, on the pitch the team prospered with a top 8 finish seemingly the peak of our aspirations back then, but the following season saw us almost do a Leicester City a year before them, although we fell away in the second half of the season the 7th position gained once more seemed like a great triumph.
Perhaps some Saints fans have grown accustomed to always winning, but this season does not seem to have that buzz, perhaps it's not helped by the fact that we have had some poor periods in it, but despite the fact that we are in a better position than two years ago at the same stage and not far behind what we were this time last year, there seems to be a flat feeling in the crowd.
That was shown on Saturday against Newcastle when the crowd barely got going as the team cruised to victory, there was more enthusiasm for taunting Newcastle fans about having a shot than there was to actually encouraging the team on to more.
Last year was so different and so was the year before despite the fact that we had off the field issues and we were never going to finish above 8th, then that position seemed brilliant, now we would consider 8th a disaster almost.
Yes perhaps our standards are higher and yes our expectations as supporters definitely are, but have we let that expectancy lead to complacency, 8th just doesn't seem so exciting anymore, someone said that back in the 90's that in the Premier league you need to be either challenging for the top 6 or fighting relegation, being in the middle offered no excitement.
So perhaps we need to vamp up a gear or two, it has always been the case for a Sants crowd that mostly the team has to show the crowd something before the bulk of that crowd will respond, that is the case going into the last five games of the season. The crowd expects 7th, it hasn't quite grasped how close we are to something higher.
It is almost as if a lot of Saints supporters having seen us sit in or around 10th have long accepted that as this seasons lot and they haven't quite awakened to the fact that Europe is still a real possibility.
Now the team needs to give the supporters something to aspire to, the travelling away army at Everton on Saturday will do what they have always done and give great backing, if Saints win it will open out the league table and will perhaps open up the eyes to some that another win at Aston Villa will give us a great chance of the Europa League.
This could turn out to be the best season yet the Champions League is not yet out of site, Manchester City are seven points ahead and that is a big ask especially with the fact they have a game in hand, however this weekend they have a tough trip to Chelsea followed by a weekday visit to Newcastle and a home game to Stoke, if they fail to win all three then their visit to St Mary's could be interesting if we have dispatched both Everton and Villa.
The Champions League is a long shot, however it does show that we have capabilities of jumping above both West Ham and Manchester United.
So Saints fans need to get that buzz back, this is as good a season as we have known in any other 2002/03 aside and it could yet be our best ever.
There has not been such a good time to be a Saints supporter since we had three consecutive top ten finishes in the early 80's, we can equal that this year, the next five games are crucial !