A big day at a sold out St Mary's stadium as Saints look to achieve several aims against the Owls, all the talk is about equalling the club record of 19 games unbeaten, but the main objective is to get 3 points in the promotion race.

Russell Martin won't be talking about equalling club records in his pre match team talks to his players, he will be focusing on the promotion battle and the need to keep on winning and in doing so, not only putting pressure on the two teams above, but widening the gap between those below us.

The win will be the first thing on his mind, if that is achieved then his second thought will be on how Ipswich get on in the 5.30pm kick off, if we have won and they have been beaten at home by Sunderland., then we will be in the top two on merit, it would be only on goal difference, but it would be a major psychological blow to the Tractor Boys.

Only then will he turn his thoughts to the fact that if we are unbeaten then he will have carved himself a place in the history of Southampton Football Club.

But the main focus has to be beating Sheffield Wednesday and what we cannot allow to happen is to let complacency set in both on the pitch and in the stands.

The last week or so has been all about the 102 year old record and equalling it, but all that has to remain in the pubs pre match and in the stadium there is only one focus.

The big question is what formation Russell Martin will start with, will he revert to essentially a back three with the two full backs pushed forward, or will he stick to the back four he has employed in most of the games in the last few months .

Then he can sort out his midfield and who he uses in the centre of the park, he is spoiled for choice there with in my opinion only Flynn Downes if well a certain started, Will Smallbone has been solid and steady, Shea Charles has pushed his case for a regular start and Stuart Armstrong has played well at times but at others not so well, he has lost the ball a little too easily in some games in my opinion, however I think he will be one of the starters.

In the attacking three Adam Armstrong is of course a certain started, he has quietly got on with the job this season and in some quarters hasn't received the praise his hard work has deserved, away from Southampton he has been seen as a key figure and was nominated for the Championship player of the month in December joining Russell Martin who was nominated in the manager category.

So who will join Adam Armstrong in the front line, Sam Edozie won't be in contention after his injury at Norwich and you would think that it will be the Wee Man, Ryan Fraser who will replace him, that is the obvious choice, Fraser has been very much an impact sub in the first half of the season, possibly because after so little game time at Newcastle in the year before he joined Saints his core stamina was a little rusty, but he showed against Walsall that he now has that up to the levels needed for the full 90 minutes and that has to be a good thing.

So who will be the third man, will it be Che Adams who is being linked with moves to Everton & Wolves or will we leave him on the bench and perhaps play Charly Alcatraz.

I have a feeling that although Russell Martin clearly recognises Charly's talents, he is a little unsure about trusting him in games where we have to dig in, certainly attacking players have to take risks when going forward and i just thing the manager things that perhaps Alcaraz gives the ball away in key areas a little too much.

However this is a home game and we would hope to take the game to Sheffield Wednesday so I think that perhaps playing Adam Armstrong in the centre flanked by Ryan Fraser & Charly Alcaraz could be the line up to fire us to three points.

So a big game at St Mary's in more way than one and we need to fire on all cylinders and get that goal difference up, Wednesday start the day in the bottom three and much of the reason for that is there form away from home where they have won just twice with a single draw plus 10 defeats.

As you would imagine this is one of the worst records in the division, but a word of caution is that Rotherham who got a draw at St Mary's and Plymouth have worse records.

When looking at the table they have scored just 7 goals away from home, but conceded just 22, that suggests that they won't be taking the view that attack is the first form of defence.

However they have picked up in the last few games since the appointment of former Saints assistant manager Danny Rohl, they have won 3 of the last 5 Championship games and will be looking for a win that could drag them out of the bottom 3.

But we have to concentrate on what we do and what we do well and what we need to achieve and if we do that then we can have a very successful Saturday against Wednesday.

A word of caution though, as I say our biggest problem is complacency and as supporters we have forgotten what it is like to fall behind.

In that 18 game run we have fallen behind in a game just twice, both of them away, at Preston & Coventry, at home we have got used to leading games with Rotherham being the only blip when they failed to read the script and scored an equaliser .

We want the crowd to be behind the team throughout the game, if it doesn't go as we would hope we need to stay with them, we have scored so many late goals away from home because of just that, the Saints fans kept believing right to the final whistle.

If we all stick with it against Wednesday, both supporters and fans then we can take another big step forward and if we do then perhaps whoever plays the music at the end of the game will remember the Paul Hardcastle Number 1 hit from 1985, the catchy "19" or as anyone over 50 will remember N,NNNNNineteen

Photo: Action Images

Peterx added 12:21 - Jan 12 Potential banana skin with Danny Rohl doing a great job for Wednesday. Also makes me think back to when Rohl left as it seemed strange at the time and we never quite got to those levels again under RH, wonder if there was more of a story there.
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WestSussexSaint added 13:07 - Jan 12 Complacency is the biggest fear as SW have improved recently under Danny Rohl. It will be interesting to see if they are employing the high press which Rohl and Hassenhuttl employed at Saints. If they are then our defence need to be sharp when playing out from the back and avoid some of the mistakes we saw against Walsall. I don’t know why you persist with the view that when Stephens plays it is with a back 3. Stephens quite clearly is playing RB as part of a back 4 since his return from injury with KWP pushed forward almost as one of the front 3. Personally I hope KWP is back at RB as I think he is more of a threat coming from deep. Stephens will have to bide his time on the bench until injury / suspension or form mean he has a chance to replace Bednarek or THB. Other than that I think Che has hit one of his mini periods of goal scoring form. So as long as his head is on Saints and not on interest from elsewhere then I expect him to start as the central striker alongside AA and wee man. Charley seems to be more dangerous in the second half of games when there is a bit more space to operate in the pocket between opposition defence and midfield.

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Farlow added 14:36 - Jan 12 If he is fit Bree should come back because i think KWP is more effective on the left and we need to be tight defensively which we are less so if Mnning plays.Nick you say Charly gives the ball away too much but this happens with creative players and we cant all pass sideways all the time.
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LoisDeem added 14:55 - Jan 12 How can we help? Don't leave early, stay and maintain the momentum and atmosphere. Chances are you may miss a valuable goal otherwise. Make a difference, otherwise what's the point of another full house (or full section away)?
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ItchenNorth added 16:28 - Jan 12 Spot on LoisDeem
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Bowlercow added 20:43 - Jan 12 Please don't play Stevens He is to slow to beat the high press that a Rohl team will use. I would play S Armstrong Charles and Downes in front of a back four that picks itself and Adams Armstrong and Alcaraz up front A bit unfair on the wee man but keep him as an impact sub Something he has excelled at
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LoisDeem added 12:00 - Jan 13 That doesn't look bad BowlerCow. Both Stephens and Charles made errors that would have been punished by more competent opponents last time out. Those problems may be ironed out with Charles but I think Stephens is too far gone.
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