Saints take on the Foxs looking for a win that will lift them up the table and enable them to start looking up rather than down the table.

Saints problem over the past season and ahalf has been consistency, only twice last season did we win two League games in a row and so far this campaign we have not managed it once and in the coming weeks it is not likely that we will be able to start to do so given the hard games coming up.

However what we do have in the next six games is three winnable games at home starting with tonight and three of the hardest games of the season away, the consistency needs to be in our home form and that means taking the pressure of us and beating Leicester City.

If we do so then we will be looking upwards, our target has to be to still be 11th or thereabouts and 3/4 points off of 8th position after we have played Crystal Palace at home at the turn of the year, if we do so then we will have 5 of the 6 away games out of the way against the top six and that will be a bonus.

That starts tonight and we are well capable of turning over Leicester City although it has to be said the Foxes are in fine form, they have done something we have not dont either this season or last and that is win three League games in a row and they have been tough ones as well, Newcastle away and Spurs and Burnley at home, those 9 points have pushed them out of the danger zone and into the top ten and that is what we must aim to do.

What is needed though is the manager to play his best team and I am not sure that he can do after the exertions of Sunday.

Charlie Austin has been the biggest single reason behind our revival of late and he is needed tonight, but the question is how much Sunday has taken out of him and whether it could mean he is liable to pull something if he plays for too long.

But we need to put out a side to win the game and that means more changes from the manager, a back four of Soares, Hoedt, Van Dijk and Bertrand.

A central midfield trio of Lemina, Romeu and Hojbjerg with Tadic and either Redmond or Boufal wide with Austin up front.

Add a bench of six outfield players of Yoshida, Davis, Ward Prowse, Gabbiadini, Redmond/Boufal and Shane Long/Stephens and that is a side with not only an attacking flair to start the game, but options off the bench, although you have to question whether Mauricio Pellegrino has the nous to use those options after Sunday or at least use them well.

Harsh on the manager ? Yes in some ways, but he has to take some of the blame when things do not go right as much as he should be given credit when we are winning games.

We just need to play to our strengths this evening and we are good enough to win this game.

Welcome back Claude Puel, last season he was much maligned, but history will be a lot kinder to him than a section of our support were.

No welcome to Jamie Vardy though, his assault on Virgil Van Dijk cost us the League Cup final or at least it would have seen us having a much better chance of winning it, ironically it also probably cost Claude Puel his job at Saints, if Van Dijk had been fit then Pule would almost certainly been more adventurous in his style of play in the final third of the season and that might have been enough to turn round some of the supporters and he might just be a lot better manager than he had the chance to show at St Mary's last season.

Photo: Action Images

sambat added 15:26 - Dec 13 Well let’s hope VVD returns the favour to Vardy and sidelines him for 6 months this season.
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Sanguin added 17:59 - Dec 13 Yea, I agree with all of this, though I think we may still see Yoshida rather than Hoedt, I feel he will deal with Vardy better. I'm not confident we can score without Austin but, like you say, how ready he is for another game after Sunday is unclear. I think we're pretty evenly matched with Leicester. The extra day of rest and preparation they've had could count for a lot!

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