As must win games go this is a big one but won't be the last we see this season, nothing less than three points will do in what will NOT be the most watched match of the season either at St Mary's or on TV,
Saints have improved since the defeat to Leicester and have regained their pride and spirit, but we all know that the underlying problem is still there and not much can change between now and January, in our last three games defensive errors have cost us vital points if we had defended better just one in the games against City, Everton & Arsenal then we would be four points better off and the League would look much different.
Those four points would now see us out of the bottom four, level on points with West Ham and within two points of four other clubs.
Of course we aren't but it does show that we are not a bad team, but we are a terrible defence and we are paying the price for it.
At Arsena we defended like trojans for most of the game, but we still gifted them both goals, how many times do people score against us completely unmarked, ut happens time after time game after game and it has to change.
Watford arrive as the only team below us and that has to stay the same by 7.30pm this evening, they are almost as bad as us in defence, indeed they are the worst in the division away from home and second worst in terms of goals scores.
So if we can't defend against them then we can't defend against anyone, we know we can score goals so we have to outscore them end of.
The good news is that their injury list is almost as long as their team list this afternoon and they will be missing some vital players and the likes of Troy Deeney perhaps their best player who have returned from injury are lacking match fitness.
For Saints I can't see much change from the starting line up at Arsenal, perhaps the only change will be Stuart Armstrong who is likely to miss the game with a hamstring injury, but there are plenty of options to replace him.
But other than that and assuming that Kevin Danso is now out of the picture, I don't think there should be much other change to the starting line up.
The key as always may be who is on the bench, we tend to start badly and get better, so the options off the bench are the key.
What is definitely needed is a rocking St Mary's, people keep harping back to how good it was back in League One etc, most games then where played in front of a stadium only 2/3 full with plenty of empty seats yet the atmosphere was superb, tonight is likely to be the lowest Premier League attendance at the ground since our return to the Premier League, but hopefully it will be the die hards who will get behind the team who will be the ones there and not missing.
Saints fans at Arsenal were magnificent and we have a hardcore of supporters who are superb, the cynics are always the first to be noticeable by their absence when the going gets tough, but that is not always a bad thing.
Since I have supported Saints we have always had that trait of getting behind our team when it truly needs it and that is tonight.
Victory is what matters tonight not entertainment, we need eveyone to be the 12th to the 26,000th man.