Saints have a great chance to reopen a gap again in the race for promotion.
The opportunity for Saints to open up another gap and put the pressure on their rivals is in their own hands with a winnable fixture at 1pm against Crystal Palace, a victory for the boys in red & white stripes would immediately put pressure on West Ham who face a difficult trip to Birmingham with a 5.30pm kick off, knowing that Saints have already won will be a big weight on their backs althou convesrely anything other than that will act as a big spur, but the good news for us is we have the chance to set the pace.
Coming up strongly in third are Middlesbrough, they too will know the Saints result when they kick off their home game with fourth placed Hull, a draw here would be a good result with an away win being the second choice, however if we win ourselves, even a home win wouldnt be the end of the world given that it would leave Hull eight points behind, again the key is winning ourselves and then sitting back knowing that points have to be dropped in this fixture by someone, preferably both.
Cardiff will be looking to get back on track, but they are also away from home, they kick off at noon at Watford, home win is our preference of course but any dropped points will be gratefully received as we look for Cardiff's automatic challenge to falter.
Leeds are the only other team after Cardiff and ourselves in the top 6 to be kicking off early and they travel to Pride Park, Derby have dropped off somewhat in resent weeks, but a home win here puts them back in the mix and well placed to re launch their promotion drive.
Reading are in 7th place on 33 points and they entertain Brighton who are only a point behind, but three places such is the tightness, again someone has to drop points and this can only help us cement a top six position in the first of our targets in the new year.
Palace are sitting in 8th, so beating them will not only boost us but put a dent in their hopes, Blackpool in 9th and 32 points travel to Barnsley and such is this division, that if the Tykes win they they jump over the Tangerines and right into the promotion frame, so again a game where someones promotion hopes have to be dented, given how Blackpool played down here, we would rather it be them who drop the points.
Birmingham of course will now be lookingto concentrate on putting a run together for promotion now they are out of Europe, we are rooting for them on Boxing Day though as they hose West Ham as mentioned, sitting on 29 points they are going to struggle to make the top two now, but they have work to do for a play off spot and hopefully they will start to do it against the hammers.
That only really leaves inconstent leicester on 30 points, I still feel they would be the biggest threat in the play off if they make them, given the money that will be spent in January by them, they host Ipswich, again any points the Foxes drop is good for us, if their is one team i would want to see not make the play offs if we are forced to go that route, its them, a poor Xmas period could leave even a play off spot a tall task if they dont start winning on a regular basis soon.
So to summarise, Boxing Day is a big day for Saints, beat palace and the pressure is on the rest, lose to Palace and we could not only drop offf the top spot, but be in severe danger of dropping out of the top two for the first time in ages.
I dont want people to feel this is negative, but after our recent form, the time for action is here and the time to rest on our laurels from our good start is now gone, there is only one League table that counts in a season and thats the one after the last game has been played, ets take another step to that finishing line.