After Manchester United's win at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, Saints hopes of a Champions league spot decreased dramatically.

On Saturday Saints did what they had to do and got three points, sadly though as if to emphasise just how close it is in the top 7 at the moment, so did every other team apart from Liverpool and United's win at Anfield is going to make it very difficult for Saints to gain a coveted top four spot now.

Yes we are still only six points behind United in that position and eight behind Manchester City in second, but the reality is that this is a big gap when there are only eight games left and that for Saints is the reason why United's win put their top four ambitions in doubt.

Any other result at Anfield would have sufficed as then the gap would have only been four points and both teams would have been in reach and with difficult games coming up for them it would have given Saints a fighting chance, but this win makes things very very hard now although stranger things have happened.

On a bright side though it does keep Liverpool only a point ahead and with Steven Gerrard now suspended for three matches that is not going to help their cause, indeed there will be a very good opportunity to overtake them in the next round of games, on the day we travel to Everton, Liverpool are away at Arsenal in the 12.45pm game meaning that we will know exactly what we need to do when we play the Toffee's at 3pm.

The optimists will say that a Liverpool win would be better in that if we did win at Goodison it would bring us within four points of the Gunners and the Champions League would be still a possibility, but the pessimist in me says that we should be looking to overhaul Liverpool first and keep Spurs at bay and looking to secure fifth spot.

Whatever the results though this has still been our best season in terms of excitement and the quality of football in many a year and if we continue the points per game ratio then it will certainly be the best in terms of league position.

Photo: Action Images

GeordieSaint added 09:54 - Mar 23 NO!!! There are still 24 points to play for and loads can happen. Got to keep winning and keep the pressure on, United have City in a couple of weeks and there are loads of six pointers at the top of the league left to play. Keep the faith.
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SaintJez added 10:48 - Mar 23 Man U still have City, Chelsea and Arsenal to play. plenty of potential to drop points! Whether Saturday - and the injury to Forster - is the day our hopes faded may be another matter!..
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IWOZTHERE added 10:57 - Mar 23 Sorry GeordieSaint.I wish I was as optimistic as you. My confidence is fed by that of the players and while Pelle and Tadic were the catalyst for our 'revival' after the summer, they've both been suffering from a lack of it and the result has been that we haven't turned dominance into goals. That said, It's going to be a brilliant season whatever, with a couple of fabulous results against the 'bully boys' and a good run in might help us to keep 'you know who' and add a couple in the summer. Tell me though, did Ron try to get an out and out striker in the window to give Pelle a break? Also, why the hell do we keep trying to walk the ball in? You watch other teams and a high percentage of goals are scored with speculative shots from just outside the pen. area, many with the help of a deflection. We haven't conceded many, but a few of them have been like that. Anyway, bring on Everton!

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SonicBoom added 11:09 - Mar 23 Unfortunately I think with Man U and Arsenal winning now it is going to be extremely difficult if not impossible. We have to rely on winning ourselves and hoping other teams come back to us. It is not completely over as others have said, there are a lot of six pointers to go yet. As for why we dont shoot more I think it's down to the type of players we have. Some midfielders love to shoot and some pass and tackle. Davis likes to tackle and play it simple. Wanyama is a tackler and Morgan likes to play short passes. We simply don't have a Shelvey who loves to smash it when he gets the chance. In fact it's probably good our boys don't shoot if they can't, as there is usually a better option than shooting from range and it usually just upsets the crowd when it continually flies high and wide. This is known as doing a Henderson.....

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FrankSaint added 11:11 - Mar 23 Man United remain unconvincing and surely they will get caught out as the law of averages catches up with them. After all Liverpool were being touted as unbeatable until yesterday. If we can maintain the current run of results we can close the gap.
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PhantomTippler added 11:35 - Mar 23 I think we perhaps need to keep a bit of perspective, ok the CL may have passed us this season But just imagine if we qualified for the Europa League. That's a damn good showing, especially When you consider that everyone including our very own DE predicted we would make Derby County 11 points look accomplished. The Europa League will give us a hell of a lot of bargaining power over the summer and that's a damn sight more than Swansea, Everton, Newcastle or West Ham will have. COYS, We March On.

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saintwizzler added 15:11 - Mar 23 Champions league qualification ended with our defeat by Liverpool.
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Jesus_02 added 15:59 - Mar 23 Have to agree with saintwizzler - The Liverpool game showed the premier league at its worst. Any hope of upsetting the apple cart ended for me that day. It’s not lack of ambition, its lack of political clout that will prevent Saints from making the Champions League. After all we are not the sort of side that has the rules changed to allow us to take part are we.
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IWOZTHERE added 16:17 - Mar 23 I posted about Saints not shooting early enough sometimes and I've just seen the highlights.(didn't get to the match itself). Sort of justifies the point cos' Clyne's deflected shot caused the first goal.
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A1079 added 17:13 - Mar 23 It has been a good season whatever happens and as said so often, in many respects exceeded many of our expectations after the debacle or perceived debacle of last summer. We have played some lovely football at times. We have kept calm when things have gone against us. We have not moaned about decisions or injuries, we have in effect, picked ourselves up and got on with the job. Laudable, superb qualities. But, as with every team you can still find areas that need improving and identify things that have not gone so well. If we fail to qualify, it is simply because of games like West Brom, West Ham and Swansea where we had so much possession but offered so little in attack. Some errors were made in our tactics and even knowing how West Ham would play we did not seem to have a plan. Not purchasing a recognised striker in the window is a factor (it is not a guarantee of course, but is a factor) and the lack of ability in our current squad to convert possession and opportunities into match winning goals. Finishing 7th with more points than last year is a great step forward but there will be that tinge of disappointment that we did not manage to break up the cartel at the top. It is not over yet of course, but it will be a lot to ask and I am not sure we have the way with all to change our fortunes in front of goal. But, there is always next year.

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SanMarco added 00:19 - Mar 24 I think that the 5 (badly) dropped points in the Swansea and West Ham games were the moment (or 180 odd minutes) when we fell out of serious contention. Games like West Brom happen and Liverpool were lucky against us but those WH and Swansea points were there for the taking. Add those to what we have now and we would still have a good chance. I don't actually think we have played that well at home since Arsenal on New Year's Day (over 3 months ago when we play at home next - record since then at home , including cup = W2 D2 L3, For 6 Against 7) and we have even been a little fortunate in the games we have won. Even so I fully agree with all those above who say it has been a great season for us and I hope the optimists are right! After all quite a few of our games may be against teams with not much to play for...

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LostBoys added 03:59 - Mar 24 Just need to keep winning. Arsenal and Man U will drop points
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