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Saints At West Ham The Preview

Saints travel up to the London Stadium for a big big game that is as much a must not lose situation as must win.

There can be no doubt that today is crucial in the season for Saints, it is the first big test for Mark Hughes and we will find out how much we are psychologically damaged by the last four months where we have won only one League game.

We all know we are better than the position we are in, but now is when the talking stops and the actions have to start, we have to go to West Ham United and put them to the sword.

Certainly the win at Wigan saw a change in formation and mindset in the team and they came through a difficult game strongly in the end, but with respect to Wigan, the game up there in a stadium with a crowd made up of almost a third being from the South Coast is a totally different proposition to the bear pit that is going to be the London Stadium this afternoon.

But our task is simple, weather the storm and then hit them hard, we certainly have the firepower to score, in Carrillo, Gabbiadini, Long and the returning Charlie Austin we have four options that can get goals, we need to make sure that we don't give ourselves an uphill struggle by conceding soft goals.

Hughes has options in all departments, he has the quality at his disposal, he just needs to pick the right team and for many Saints fans that will be two up front again, however that has to be countered by the fact that we do not want to get swamped in midfield and Hughes could be cautious to start with with the aim of getting control of the game and then putting West Ham to the sword as was the case at Wigan.

As mentioned this is a good squad, the time for coaching is past, the time for managing is here, Mark Hughes has to get the squad's mindset right, get the winning mentality back and let them play with the swagger they used to.

Win this game and things will look a lot rosier, lose it and we are in big trouble.

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