After yet another methodical win the big question now is "Can Saints make the Champions League"

All the talk this season has been about Leicester City and rightly so, but whilst the media has focused elsewhere Saints have been slowly but surely creeping up the table and looking a great side.

Only a month ago some supporters were looking over their shoulders and saying even a top ten finish was out of the question, but now Saints are in sixth and looking upwards.

The first goal will of course to be to secure a Europa League place, we will know how viable that is in just under a fortnight when the Capital One Cup Final takes place, if Manchester City where to win, as the table stands that would mean that sixth would secure a Europa League spot and that is well within the capabilities of Saints.

But it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Saints could be looking beyond the top six and even 5th or whisper it, 4th and a Champions league spot.

There will be many who would stop reading now and say that this is not possible, but they would be wrong.

Manchester United are now only a point ahead of us and they are in turmoil, their season is heading the same way as it did a couple of years back under David Moyes, they are drifting and they can do little about it as they look towards replacing Louis Van Gaal, at best they may get the top manager they are looking for like Mourinho, but they are far more likely to make the change at the end of the season rather than now, I can't see them getting much better and morale is at rck bottom with Van Gaal a dead man walking bar a miracle.

Their noisy neighbours Manchester City are in just as much turmoil, they are being managed by another dead man walking and with pep Guardiola coming in in the summer their squad have no motivation to play for the current manager. Saints might be 7 points behind City, but that could shorten in the coming weeks and making up that ground is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Above that though the top three look bolted on, Spurs are riding their luck, but they are riding it well, likewise Arsenal who like us have come through a bad spell to start to win again, I think they will win the title.

Leicester City have done brilliantly but I think they will fall just short of the title.

But from a Saints perspective we have a great opportunity to make the top four, perhaps a better one than last season when in fairness the six teams that finished above us where all stronger, but that is not the case this season as we head into the last 12 games.

Firstly we have as easy a run in as any of our rivals in the top six, we only have to play 3 of the teams in the top 7, Leicester and Spurs away and Manchester City at home, the City game could be crucial.

Aside from those we meet mainly teams in mid table and that could be a big factor as the relegation battle evens itself out, even now its down to only six clubs and that could narrow as the weeks pass by.

So Saints have perhaps the best chance in their history of finishing in the top four of the top flight in England.

We have only managed that feat once before and that was in 83/84 season, this season has many parallels with that season, like then we are basing our game on defence and breaking, we have a similar make up of squad and play a similar type of game.

In that season we made a late surge to finally finish 2nd and it was when our attacking power came to the fore to see us over the line and that could be the case this year.

So to write off Saints for a top spot would be short sighted, we are the form team at the moment, we are top of the form table for the last six games and crucially we have gained 8 more points than Manchester City in that time, that is a pshycological boost.

Ronald Koeman like Lawrie McMenemy in 1984 will publicly play it all down, but privately he will feel that we have every chance and will be using the momentum of the past month to keep us moving forward.

Leicester have fought their way to the top through self belief and taken their chances when they have come, if we can do that ourselves in the final third of the season then a dream might just come through for not just Leicester City but Southampton Football Club.

Photo: Action Images

RogerToye added 10:42 - Feb 15 Saints v Man city toward end of season to decide who pays champions league 4th spot now there's a thought .
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SonicBoom added 10:50 - Feb 15 It is amazing that we are 6th yet the media are still banging on about Liverpool or even Everton! Ourselves and West Ham do't get the coverage we deserve.
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Fordy added 11:24 - Feb 15 Would be great, but highly unlikely. We would need to win around 10 of our last 12 games and I just cannot see that happening. We have scraped a couple of victories in our last two against Swansea and West Ham and as well as we are playing, we are hardly blowing teams away at the moment. I can see Chelsea getting something against us for starters, and if City win that could leave us 10 points away with 11 to play, which is just too much.

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helpineedsomebody added 11:46 - Feb 15 from the 27th feb/5th mar in the space of 8days we play 3 games win them then it may be more than a dream. cl/el interesting dream
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bstokesaint added 12:17 - Feb 15 I had exactly the same conversation with a colleague at work this morning, before readin this. Moving quietly up the league, not conceding goals and doing just enough at the other end of the pitch. We're pretty much the form team in the division now. Personally I think it would be a long shot, but like you say Nick the Manchester teams are in a bit of turmoil right now and will continue to drop points. We need to continue our very good run and include a win against the blue Manchester team in that run.

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schatfield added 12:18 - Feb 15 Not. A. Chance.
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harrydunn999 added 12:24 - Feb 15 The way the fixtures fall with the league cup, a crucial win against Chelsea and then another difficult one against Bournemouth-could see us just a point behind Man City, as they have a difficult game against Liverpool. As we have seen over the years and currently with Leicester, it's all about momentum. At some point mane will come back into form, and in Austin we have the joker in the pack. At 18-1 to make top four, I would suggest getting some on it before the next couple round of fixtures. B also funny to watch the tv companies scramble if we do make a charge,as after our poor run we have very few games on the box.

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arthurfane added 12:26 - Feb 15 Why not dream? Obviously this is highly unlikely, but think about what the last few weeks have brought us - let's face it, against West Ham and Swansea we were far from our best, but those games still returned maximum points. The biggest difference I am noticing between this and last season is our ability to win despite playing average football. I was sick and tired of dominating games and then losing to an 80th minute sucker punch. Our squad now has far greater depth, and we are gathering points at quite a rate - now imagine if we manage to combine our already watertight defence (van Dijk is signing of the season for me..) with a strikeforce that can score hatfulls of goals. As I've said previously, if Pelle, Austin, Long and Mané all hit a rich vein of form at the same time, we have one of the best strikeforces in the league and I really fear for the teams that have to face us. Come on Saints :)

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DPeps added 12:27 - Feb 15 No, sorry. It would need one of the current top 4 to fall off a cliff, and I can't see that happening. In the past I'd have bet on a Spurs capitulation but (much to my dismay) they are made of stronger stuff this season
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bstokesaint added 12:34 - Feb 15 I can't see Spurs capitulating either. I still think despite all results which suggest otherwise that Leicester will have a dip in form/ injury crisis at some point. To keep their momentum going for a whole season would be highly commendable. Mind you they'd have to have a dip like the one when we picked up 5 points from 9 games!! I didn't see that one coming.
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Number_58 added 12:36 - Feb 15 It's weird how this football lark grips us. I'm the biggest pessimist on the planet but even I've been trying to calculate how many more points we'll need to sneak into fourth place (which almost inevitably means we will implode and finish 13th). Need to get Charlie on the pitch and scoring though; we can't keep relying on winning one-nil every week.
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cheltenhamsaint added 13:03 - Feb 15 I don't normally place any additional significance to any one match but the Chelsea game does throw up an interesting scenario, touched on by harrydunn999 above. A Saints win is probably the final nail in the coffin for any lingering hopes that Chelsea have of making 4th It would take us above Utd for 24 hours, longer if they fail to beat Arsenal at home on the Sunday Man City and Liverpool don't play in the league, and then play each other mid week. Both clubs have a lot of fixtures to squeeze in over the next month West Ham have Sunderland at home I think if we are still in the mix after the Bournemouth game the squad will quietly believe that it is possible Fast forward to the end of the season and imagine a top four containing Leicester, Spurs and Saints. This would be cheered to the rafters in Italy where they will perceive that it will give them an opportunity to improve their European co efficient at English clubs' expense and give them added ammunition to push through their motion of creating a European Elite League where certain clubs are guaranteed entry. The Law of Unintended Consequences

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lockseaf77 added 13:19 - Feb 15 What usually seems to happen is that once it becomes a topic of conversation it all goes to ratshit. Better to say nothing and keep smiling
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SaintPaulVW added 14:09 - Feb 15 And I've only just finished grinning about getting 40 points. Old habits die hard! I can easily see fifth, not sure I can quite see fourth yet. If we had a striker on form like Vardy I would be a bit more convinced. Could easily happen though. However, ,s a couple of the above say though, just as you think things are going in the right direction it all goes pear shaped......fingers crossed not this time. COYR.

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SanMarco added 14:54 - Feb 15 Brilliant point on the Euro Elite League Cheltenham. We are already starting to hear mutterings on that front. As for us coming 4th it is a very long shot and I would agree with those who say let's leave the speculation for a little while yet...
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BaselSaint added 15:39 - Feb 15 We do have the defence but we don't have the firepower. Pelle, Austin and Mané need to start doing the business - then there may be a whisker of a chance.
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halftimeorange added 16:37 - Feb 15 Can't see it myself. Our fixtures are as difficult or more so than teams above us. The critical run is the three games at the end of March, beginning of April. Stoke away, Liverpool at home and Leicester away. I think Liverpool might overtake us as they have an easy four games at the end of the season but I can't see Chelsea in the top six. Sixth, seventh or eighth for us. Too difficult to call.

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SaintBrock added 18:17 - Feb 15 Sadly the answer is No. No way are the top 4 going to lose more than a couple of games each s even if we win most of ours which is unlikely it would still be difficult. With Everton & Liverpool not to mention Chelsea in hot pursuit we are not even guaranteed a top six spot so let's not get ahead of ourselves.
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SaintDownUnder added 20:25 - Feb 15 The main issue with the possibility of us finishing 4th is that realistically as you say nick it's a shoot out between us and Man City for 4th. Essentially it requires us to be almost perfect from now on, it only takes moments like that Yoshida penalty claim to be given and it's over, sadly I just don see it. City do have a tougher run in, and a far higher volume of games, but they also have a billion dollar squad who will be well motivated to finish top 4.

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BoondockSaint added 20:30 - Feb 15 Nick, put the bong down and slowly step away from it. Yes, this year thankfully, the league is competitive. But we destroyed any chance with the run from November into January when we seemed to not have the talent to score nor grit to hold on to points. I am hoping Leicester can do it, but I have to admit I am jealous, because I look at them and the only difference I can see between them and Saints is that their strikers score 90% of the time they are in front of goal instead of making a complete mess of it and rubbing their faces. Maybe if we had Austin from the beginning things might have been different. Like I said I am a bit jealous. It may come down to the last day, Leicester plays Chelsea, if it could hurt the other big clubs, it would be great if Chelsea puts out their under 21s!

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IWOZTHERE added 20:45 - Feb 15 We're all getting carried away! we're having a brilliant run, but it's only 6/7 weeks ago that we were worried about where the next win would come from and whether we'd get sucked into the relegation scrap. We were never that bad, and as for Champion's League I don't think we're quite that good.Still hoping though!
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bstokesaint added 22:57 - Feb 15 I'm with you there Boondock and for that reason I jumped for joy when Arsenal scored a winner at the weekend. I want that first team to have title success outside the regulars to be us. Am I jealous? Of course I am, but after 2 excellent seasons I think we deserve recognition more for what we've built and achieved. Our story is better.
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zonehead added 23:10 - Feb 15 Use the force
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SaintBrock added 23:36 - Feb 15 Man C, Spurs and Leicester all have easy game this week. Only Man u v Arsenal has the potential to help us. A Man U win really won't have that much of an impact on Arsenal's challenge. Below us Liverpool/ Everton might just be the local derby bore draw that keeps both a safe distance behind us even if we only get 1 point this weekend. WHU have an easy match as well. We will have to beat a resurgent Chelsea not the one that rolled over for us at Stamford Bridge even to stay where we are. Context is the important factor every week. Of course if we just keep winning nobody can catch us

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IWOZTHERE added 14:58 - Feb 16 'PSHYCOLOGICAL' Nick? Didn't realise you spoke Dutch!
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