Saints travel to Hull City hoping to take another big step towards a top ten finish in the Premier League by repeating their win over the Tigers the last time they visited the KC Stadium two years ago.

As regular readers of these previews will know, Im never one to count chickens before they are counted, therefore even though a nine point gap between us and 10th place is a big one at this stage of the season, I prefer to get the job done before I start to assume that our finishing position in the league is bolted on.

Hull are one of the c three clubs sitting nine points behind, beating them tonight will stretch that gap and will leave them a big mountain to climb if they are to catch us in the final 12 games left after tonight, this being the case even a draw would not be a disaster, but if we harbour hopes of taking these steps forward then this is a fixture that we have to look at winning.

There will be a couple of decisions for Mauricio Pochettino to make tonight, ideally he would be able to make optimum use of his squad, he will hope that Sam Gallagher can return to ease the burden on his strike force, Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez are young enough to be able to handle three games in a week, but not so with Rickie Lambert,

At full back he might prefer Callum Chambers to add some steel to the side and it could be we see the return of Wanyama to counter Hull's engine room in the centre of the park.

Danger man will be Shane Long although the hope is his shooting is as bad as it was when he faced us for West Brom a few weeks ago.

Like every game Saints are capable of getting a result, if they do then its a big step forward

Photo: Action Images

ItchenNorth added 13:50 - Feb 11 Wanyama back in (and fully fit) would be a real bonus for a game like this. Hull Tigers are a solid outfit so Wanyama sitting in front of back four will allow the likes of Lallana, and co to be more offensive. I would like to see Gallagher start ahead of Lambert for this one as we need to be more mobile upfront. Lallana on free kick duty until Ricky makes his entrance. I'm going for 1-2 Saints !

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slynch added 13:58 - Feb 11 Long and Jelavic to each score against a patched-up defence? Can Gallagher get a hattrick to win? Yea! No probs.
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TimSaint added 14:14 - Feb 11 Seem to remember we also played them away in the Championship on a Tuesday night last time as well - or was it Wednesday ? Anyway we won 2-0, so another repeat result would be great. If you are going - go to the Social Club on the other side of the approach road to the main car park. It is free to park there, as opposed to £5 in the main car park, welcomes away fans and serves decent cheap food and drink. Look out for a white car in the main car park on your way to the stadium - I think it was Audi or BMW - with a number plate LA11ANA !! Superb !! I wonder which menber of his family has this one ? I think Adam himself has one that starts with ADZ Anyway - hopefully we will make a change or 2 for tonight - get a positive result early doors, and maybe make a couple of changes ahead of the weekend fixture.

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