The recent defeat to Brighton left some Saints supporters worried that the spectre of relegation was looming ominously as Fulham come up on the rails, but Friday night's result at Craven Cottage gave some breathing space.

Two months ago Saints were looking only one way and that was up the table and the FA Cup looked like being an added bonus for some glory.

But the worst run in the club's history has seen us drop down the table and slowly inch nearer the drop zone, Fulham's run of late meant that the gap closed and we sat yesterday afternoon only 7 points clear of the Cottagers.

Their home fixture against Leeds United was a big game for them , a very winnable home game and three points from that would take them out of the drop zone and for Saints we would be only 5 points above Newcastle who play Brighton this afternoon.

So most Saints supporters were hoping for a Leeds United win and they got it with the Yorkshire side winning 2-1, meaning Fulham stay 7 points behind us and have only 8 games left, one less than ourselves.

I now I would rather be in our position than theirs.

For Fulham this was a big defeat, they have now lost 3 out of the last 4 Premier League games and with only 8 left they have some tough ones left, they have to travel to Aston Villa, Arsenal, Chelsea & Manchester United, the latter two chasing a Champions League place and the former two still hopeful of a Europa League place.

Now this result is very welcome, but I can't help feel that come the end of the season we might regret it as it now pushes Leeds 6 points clear of us in the table.

But for now it is a boost for Ralph Hasenhuttl and his squad, the last thing they would want is to go into the game at Bournemouth with a feeling of apprehension about our Premier League position.

Now they can go and worry only about beating Bournemouth and if we do that we can go into the International break with enthusiasm and with Danny Ings and Theo Walcott returning for our games in April confidence as well.

The League table looks a little brighter this morning and we travel across the New Forest knowing that the League table can't get any worse for two weeks, hopefully the revival is already underway after the win at Sheffield United and will start to hit top gear now.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 10:18 - Mar 20 Agree with the headline (Nick), but it is still bad news when we have to rely on other teams losing in order to hold onto our status. If that is the case we will continue to watch the likes of Brighton and Fulham who won't go down without a fight.
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saint22 added 11:02 - Mar 20 The “revival “ as you put it stopped with defeat at home to Brighton Let’s hope a win today then two weeks rest means we can quickly get two wins and be safe
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highfield49 added 11:21 - Mar 20 Losing at home to Brighton also meant removing the rose tinted glasses. We are now firmly looking over our collective shoulders hoping that results go our way. Any pretence of being a top half club is rapidly disintegrating. I'm still believing that we can gain enough points to stay up but, looking ahead, the club is in a downward spiral. Whilst the physical demands of the season and restrictions on recovery plans have led to more muscle injuries it seems to me that without investment we can't be optimistic about any improvement next season. I think RH has to have a long hard look at his expectations and change his style of play because the possibility of adding quality to the squad this summer isn't looking very promising. If Ings, Bertrand, Vestergaard and others decide that their futures lie elsewhere we are still left with Minamino and Walcott unlikely to be retained and the likes of Hoedt and Lemina still on the wage list. On the bright side it could be that Vokins and other loanees return as better players to plug the gaps. Fingers crossed for a bright future but at present it's tough to be truly optimistic.

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KriSaint added 09:35 - Mar 21 I can't see Vestergaard. Bertrand and Ings leave us. For various, obvious reasons. Vestergaard gets plenty of praise from his danish national team manager because of Vestergaards efforts for Saints and will without a doubt be selected for the Euros. Le likes the Ralph project, so why the h*ll would he want to leave? Bertrand can't break into a top six club and play as regularly as he does for Saints at his age, and he likes playing for Ralph - Ralph style. Why wouldn' t he finish his career wit Saints? Ings is back in the England squad because of his efforts for Saints and he is, sadly, injury prone. This fact means he will not be bought by a top 6 club. He belongs with Saints who love him. 4-5 more years with Saints and 20+ international games, and he will have had a more than decent career which started with Bournemouth and Burnley......

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