The draw at Chelsea gave Saints a real morale boost, but the point gained did a whole lot more.
The point gained at Chelsea on Tuesday illustrated just how valuable it is for teams in the relegation struggle to pick up the odd point or two against some of the top teams in the Premier League, not only could this point be vital come the end of the season, but its vital for Saints as they go into a weekend where they have to sit back and watch before playing (hopefully) on Monday night against Everton.
This point means that whatever the results on Saturday that Saints cannot drop into the bottom three, the fact that without it they could have done and indeed even now sit only three points above the drop zone after a thirteen game spell where they have only lost twice shows not only how much trouble that we were in, but how tight the scrap to stay up is.
Now though, weather permitting we can sit back and watch to see if the results go for us, if they do then we could face Everton knowing that a win would give us a six point cushion from the drop zone, plus a superior goal difference, whilst even if the results dont go for us, we will still be clear of the bottom three with a chance to restore that three point gap by beating the Toffee's.
So where do we need to be looking towards on Saturday ?
Perhaps the biggest game is at the Hawthorns where West Brom will face the third from bottom club Aston Villa, a win for the Baggies will plunge crisis club Villa even deeper into that crisis, the form book says that its a banker home win, however one thing Villa showed last Saturday is that they dont lack fight and will graft to the final whistle, so its far from certain.
QPR go to Arry's spiritual home West Ham, hopefully Sam Allardyce will be looking over his shoulder a little and thinking that the Hammers on 26 points are balancing on a bit of a cliff edge, if they lost to QPR and followed that on Wednesday be being beaten at Arsenal, they could be dragged into the melee at the bottom, therefore they will see this as a big game in which they can push themselves withing sight of the 30 point mark that would put them in the home straight to safety, with QPR's situation though even a draw would not be good enough, going into this game they need to win a minimum of six games from their final sixteen probably seven to reach 38 points, add to that they would still need a few draws on top they can afford only four defeats for the rest of the season to stay up, thats a monumental task.
Relegation six pointer of the day though is at Newcastle where Reading are the visitors, in recent weeks its become apparent that Newcastle are in freefall, after a good start they are struggling to pick up points and with Demba Ba having scored 13 of their 27 goals, things arent getting any easier, they know a home win will take a lot of pressure off, but defeat could see them drop into the bottom three, from a Saints perspective a draw would be the best result as not only would it keep Newcastle below us on goal difference, it would be a blow to Reading who would face a big uphill task and like QPR would be looking at least six wins from their remaining 15 games.
Another big relegation battle is at Wigan where Sunderland are the visitors, in recent weeks the Black Cats have picked up a little and like West Ham know that a win will take them well clear of the relegation battle whereas a defeat will plunge them straight back into it, where a draw wouldnt be a bad result for us, probably a Sunderland win would be the most welcome.
Fulham start the weeknd only three points ahead of Saints on the same 25 points that Sunderland are on and the situation for them is the same as for the North East club,, a defeat could drag them into the fringes of the relegation battle, their problem is they travel to Man City, a heavy defeat could actually give us the chance to move above them, they have a -5 goal difference and we have -10, that could easily be changed if City do their job and take them to the cleaners and we can beat Everton by at least a couple.
So its a busy day in the Premier on Saturday, of the seven fixtures being played five have a direct bearing on us, the other two, Liverpool V Norwich and Swansea V Stoke perhaps not so much, although Norwich sit on 26 and like West Ham are at that moment in a season where a couple of good wins takes the pressure off, but a couple of defeats leaves you too close for comfort to the relegation battle.
For our part, we now perhaps need four wins to see us within sight of safety, if we get one of them on Monday night it will not only do a lot of good in terms of our position in the table but morale wise it will be a big boost as we head into our own period of games which by the end of next month could either see us well on the way to safety or very worried.