It will take a few results going our way, but can Saints finish with a flourish and finish in 10th ?

Such is the compact nature of the bottom half of the Premier League this season that Saints amazingly go into the final game of the season at home to Stoke City knowing that if results go their way then it could be a tenth place finish, but if they lose and results dont go our way then we could actually finish fourth from bottom only a few points ahead of relegated Wigan Athletic. 

The first lesson to take from this though is that it emphasises that in the bottom half of the table there isnt much to seperate the sides and that we shouldnt get too carried away with tenth as much as finishing fourth from bottom wont spell disaster either.

But that being said it would put the icing on the cake of what has been a season most Saints fans would have taken on the first day of it, should we finish with that flourish and hit the top 10.

But as mentioned to do that we need a few results to go our way first, and of course there is the little matter of beating Stoke City.

Truth of the matter though is that tenth is a little unlikely in that West Ham who currenly hold that position three points above us finish their season with a home fixture against already relegated Reading, its hard to see them losing that one, at best a draw and that of course would give them a point that would mean we couldnt overtake them.

But having established that tenth is perhaps needing a little too much at Upton Park, 11th is certainly well within our grasp, Stoke are there at the moment with 41 points and of course if we beat them we leapfrog them, that just then leaves the little matter of jumping above Newcastle and Norwich City.

The Geordies have a tough home game against Arsenal who are one of three teams left in the Premiership who actually have something concrete to play for, they along with Chelsea and Spurs are looking for that Champions League place, yes Chelsea are virtually guaranteed a top 4 finish in that their goal difference is far superior to Spurs, but they still need to finish third and avoid the preliminary Champions League round.

Norwich are away to Manchester City and although City are a club in turmoil, again its hard to see the Canaries getting a win at the Etihad and if we beat Stoke then thats not good enough to stay above us come the final table.

So the likelihood is that if we do our job and beat Stoke we probably wont get to tenth but at the eleventh hour so to speak we can get to eleventh place.

However before we get carried away as some did a few weeks ago, we could just as easily drop to 17th, of course as mentioned if we had been offered that back in August we would have been delighted, but there will be that feeling of anti climax if we lose on Sunday and Sunderland, Villa & Fulham jump above us.

Sunderland though have the toughest task travelling to White Hart Lane, to meet a Spurs side who know that even a win might not be good enough if Arsenal beat the Toon Army, however they will go out and do their job first and hope for a miracle up in the North East.

Aston Villa as we all probably know travel to Wigan and it could be that Wigan will be distraught and given they will be showing off the FA Cup to their fans might not be too bothered about a meaningless three points.

Fulham travel to Swansea City for a game that has draw written all over it.

So there you have it, to reiterate the truth is wherever we finish isnt going to point anything towards next season, due to the compact nature of the league 10th wont indicate anything more than 17th, neither will foretell triumph or disaster, however there is money on the game due to prizes for league position, so from that view its important we get as high as we can and in the same motion leave everyone with a smile on their face to finish off the season.       

Photo: Action Images

davidhosey added 09:58 - May 17 With all the speculation about Poch and Cortese about to walk away, I must admit I dont really care about where we finish right now Nick. I want stability at this club !! Its typical of Saints that less than 24 hours after the fans could relax for the first time in months they cause even more anxiety. What is going on?
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SaintNick added 10:13 - May 17 What is stability though, with regard to the manager, he is the fourth one we have had since the Liebherr era (OK the first Wotte survived only a couple of days lol) managers come and go and these days rarely last at any club more than 2-3 years. Is stability having large amounts of debt loaded on the club to finance chasing glory, pompey are the answer to that one
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Scrooge added 10:21 - May 17 Collect those sheckles .. I seem to remember each league position was worth an extra 750,000 pounds (prize money from the bottom > up)
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stmichael added 10:26 - May 17 The league table does not lie over 38 games. And 11th is considerably better than 17th. Its like saying Man C didnt win the league last season because they had the same points as MANU. I agree with the money bit though. 900k a place I heard which is serious money. Would pay our out of court settlements thats for sure!!
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slynch added 10:38 - May 17 Adkins is an employee of Southampton Football Club so I'm sure he will be trying his very hardest to help his employer and go on to beat West Ham who have little to play for. All the other matches you mention seem dead certs so a 10th spot finish seems almost inevitable?
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davidhosey added 10:42 - May 17 Nick you surprise me. I think you are being a bit complacent. Lack of stability means holding on to your best players and steadily strengthening. Already the vultures are circling after Shaw (Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal), Spider (Inter Milan) and next will be Clyne, SLR and Cork. Other clubs are watching this situation closely and want to take advantage of the uncertainty. We need the club to sort it out very soon!!!

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ExiledSupporter added 11:50 - May 17 While no fan of Cortese's personality, I have to concede that he has done a fantastic job for us, even if he has made me deeply ashamed of the club's behaviour over the Adkins affair. Nevertheless the prospect of losing him and Pochettino now (if you believe the latter's statement which I find difficult to think is ultimately credible) does not represent anything but more debilitating uncertainty. It also appears to suggest that the owners may be seriously thinking of 'offloading' the club and this might also entail selling off some key assets (players) to raise money...and we are plunged into an auction between sellers who only have an interest in maximising their returns and purchasers who may have dubious credentials, perhaps from the Middle East or somewhere in the vicinity of the Urals. All this might also prevent any squad consolidation over the summer and appointment of another replacement manager. These are not good prospects!

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SaintNick added 11:52 - May 17 Stmichael, so what you are saying is that the league table doesn't lie so if saints lose and finish 4th from bottom then Pochetino actually is no better than Adkins so sack him whereas if we win and finish 10th then he is brilliant !!!!! Actually this table could lie we could lie 4th from bottom in the 3rd minute of injury time with the score at 0-0 and then get a last minute dodgy penalty and shoot up to 10th, does that actually tell us anything about the quality of saints ?

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Dazzler73 added 12:49 - May 17 So...we win on Sunday, results go 100% our way and we get 10th Nice...subdued celebrations I guess with all that is apparently going on! come Monday to Whenever.....uncertainty, speculation, rumours...nothing concrete or clarified until whenever...no signings to take us to this next level....pre-season begins quite soon!! then bombshell....which I truly hope is that Nicola and Mo-Po are here to stay...... what we really need is stability by the end of May...new signings in by the end of June and a productive pre-season!! I do truly wish for this!!!!

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