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Southampton V Brentford The Preview

Saints take on Brentford at St Mary's this evening looking to take all three points and storm out of the bottom three, but it will be tough the Bees themselves have a lot to play for as they look for a win that could put them in the top 7.

The two teams are both looking for a win this evening for different reasons, Brentford could find themselves in the top 7 and Saints could find themselves 15th, so it is going to be a keenly contested game.

But Brentford's good form this season has been based firmly on their home form, they have won 7 at home and drawn 5 losing just 1, taking 26 of their 38 points so far, away from home they have found it far tougher just two wins plus 6 draws and 4 defeats providing the other 12 points.

Likewise is their goal difference, 27 scored at home with just 13 conceded whilst on the road they have notched just 13 goals and conceded 20.

Their recent form has not been great either, their last 4 games have seen just 1 win, 2 draws and a defeat, whilst Saints have notched 2 wins and a draw in the same period and it could be said against far tougher opposition.

So the game is more evenly poised than the Premier League table would suggest, Saints are a team on the up, whilst Brentford are perhaps one who are finding the lofty heights a little distracting.

One thing we have taken from Ruben Selles two games in charge is that he has abandoned the scattergun approach of his predecessor, he has so far worked with a compact squad and this has reaped rewards, we are a lot more disciplined since our defeat at Brentford just 5 games ago and we are a team with a new found spirit.

I would not expect Ruben Selles to change much, perhaps if Ainsley Maitland-Niles is fit he will return in place of Romain Perraud and there could be a change in attack, I would not be surprised if Tall Paul made a start, but in truth it is hard to see much change, the bulk of the starting XI have earned their right to start the game.

This game is certainly a biggie,, three points for Saints would see them soar up to 16th, indeed a 3 goal margin such as the scoreline last season would see us in15th place jumping above Everton and it would give us a big boost and also put the fear of God in those teams in midtable such as Palace, Wolves & Forest who would suddenly see us right up there behind them, if only we had taken a couple of points in those 3 games how different the table would already look this morning, that shows how close we are.

This needs to be a Saints team that come out firing on all cylinders, confident in what they are doing and with a crowd behind them that themselves have suddenly found new belief and who hopefully not only get behind the team, but stay with it no matter which way the game is going.

This morning there are less than 200 tickets remaining and they are sure to be snapped up in the next few hours, so you will need to be quick.

So we go into a crucial 4 day period that sees two home games, two wins would see us pulling clear of the bottom 3 and starting to almost smell the safety line, but more to the point it would decimate our rivals, in most relegation battles there is usually at least one team that looks dead and buried that suddenly comes up on the rails and another than collapses when they looked on the cusp of safety.

A word of caution though, after all this is Saints, it doesn't normally go completely to plan, there is still a long way to go, it would be nice to end this week with six points, but if it doesn't there is still a long way to go.

Saints were never as bad a team as some would have you believe a few months ago, our problems were not one of quality, but of the several issues and most of those issues have now been solved.

Tonight is a night to raise our voices and back our team to the hilt.

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