After a great start to the season it made me wonder how long it has taken us to amass the same points that we have today in previous seasons, the result was surprising.

As we look at the Premier league table and our proud position of 3rd after only 8 games played with a total of 16 points it made me wonder just how long it took us to get that number of points in some of our dark days in seasons past in the Premier league, the findings where surprising.

In the 22 seasons that the Premier League has been in existence prior to this one, Saints have played in 15 of them, of those seasons as i have sat down on Christmas Day for lunch we have had 16 points or less on an astounding six occasions.

Now a fair few of those seasons were back in the 1990's when it cant be argued we had a fair few relegation battles but a couple of them are a little nearer than we would care to remember.

The opening seasons of the Premier saw a 42 game format so we played back then a few more games in the early half of the season than we do now, this season our last game before Xmas will be our 17th of the season, back in 93/94 though our trip to Swindon was our 21st game of the season and after losing to Swindon Town away a few days earlier, Saints fans had to eat their Turkey with only 14 points on the board, just about our worst total on a points per game ratio of all of these dire seasons.

95/96 was slightly better as we had 18 points amassed before Xmas Day, and in 96/97 we had 16 from 18 games exactly the same number that we have now, but 98/99 saw our worst ever start to a Premier season as Dave Jones began his second season as Saints manager, Jones was not on many people's Xmas card list having only 13 points as we opened the presents in a season that would become known as the Great escape.

The next season 99/00 was not much better as Jones weighed down by a pending court case stubbornly refused to accept that his off the field problems were affecting his job at the Dell and we had 17 points, however we were on a downward spiral having won only one league game since August after a bright start.

Season 01/02 was our first at St Mary's and we had endured a torrid start resulting in the arrival of Wee Gordon Strachan, however he was still finding his feet meaning that on Xmas Day we still only had 16 points on the board.

2004/05 was a black season for the club, it was a black December as well with Harry Redknapp arriving as manager, he could not be blamed too much though for the fact that we had only 13 points on the board after 18 games, no what he can be blamed for is the fact that he only got 19 from the next 20 games.

We then obviously had a gap before our next Premier season,although Redknapp's was much shorter before he skulked off back down the M27, our return to the top flight in 2012/13 saw us with only 15 points on the board, however unlike 99/00 our trajectory was upwards given that after 11 games we had only 5 points to our name, November had seen an upturn and as poor as the points total was it did at least keep us out of the bottom 4, unlike Redknapp who had taken over at QPR and only had 10 points on the board.

So this perhaps puts into perspective what a great start Saints have had to the season, in the past there have been far too many where we have started badly and taken a long time to recover, perhaps the most amazing fact from this is that of all those seasons mentioned we only got relegated in one of them, perhaps showing that the Spirit Of Southampton has always been there.

After such a great weekend though Im not going to end this article on a downer, we now need to look to emulate our best ever position on Christmas Day, there would be some that would think that was last years 24 points, but they would be wrong, our best start was was exactly 10 years ago, when a great December saw us not only beat Liverpool at Anfield, but on the 21st slaughter Pompey 3-0 at St Mary's, we had 26 points and sat in fourth position whilst Pompey sat in the relegation zone with ironically the same 16 point total that we have today, now that's what I call a Christmas Present.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 10:31 - Oct 20 The results against the same teams played so far but last year yielded 1 point more that Saints have this season. So Ronko's gonna have to squeeze a bit more out of this team than MP did to ensure you enjoy your turkey more than last year.
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jameslastfan added 11:17 - Oct 20 What is impetus worth in football. I don't know, but something. The trouble with comparing like for like matches is the results in between. I don't disagree with with you slynch at all, but I just wonder with the matches all played together, an unbeaten run that was only stopped at the N London chickens, and an 8 -0 win against a former bogey team, together with a first win at Arsenalnil for 10+(?) years the impetus we have is different and must be worth something. Need a lie down over thinking on a Monday means I have peaked for the week. Arsenal nil fans in the office this morning are quiet, very quiet. We are not, but feet soon the floor ready for Saturday.

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slynch added 12:16 - Oct 20 I think impetus is another name for momentum which is a concept in physics for mass times velocity and probably has no impact in football except to pad out dodgy reasoning by so-called press pundits. What does make football easier is playing rubbish teams. http://bwinbetting.com/leagues/premier-league/southampton-reality-check-commence 2nd by Xmas!
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bstokesaint added 12:29 - Oct 20 Nick, at the start of the season you asked if the Saints first squad and first team was better now than under Poch. A number of people thought the squad was, but not the team. I believed if the unknown quantities came good then Koeman's team could well be better. I'm just wondering if you did the same article now what people's thoughts would be. I'm a great believer in not getting complacent (especially with our Christmas run), but I think most fans would favour the current player as opposed to the player who left:- Tadic vs Lallana Pelle vs Lambert Bertand vs Shaw Alderweireld vs Lovren Clyne vs Chambers Koeman vs Pochettino

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bstokesaint added 12:34 - Oct 20 Then we have Mane and Long. Mane is definitely causing the opposition defences some issues. And Long just needs that first goal. There is no doubt the guy puts in a real shift every time he plays and has the ability to change games. It's a shame things didn't work out with Saphir Tadir, but then we have possibly the best midfield in the Premiership right now so it's not like we miss anything there.

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slynch added 13:06 - Oct 20 Good game...good game... Tadic 9 vs Lallana 5 Pelle 9 vs Lambert 6 Bertand 8 vs Shaw 7 Alderweireld 7 vs Lovren 7 Clyne 8 vs Chambers 4 Koeman 16 vs Pochettino 17
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Consigliere added 18:11 - Oct 20 Slightly off thread but I am amused to see the talk of refunding the Sunderland fans for the cost of their trip south. I doubt that it will happen but if it does, what sort of precedent will this set? Will teams refund for every poor performance or just one where the score is 8 goals against them? Would a refund have been offered if Sunderland had lost 7 nil? Or 6 nil? Suppose they had scored once and we had scored again? The fact is that they lost and we won and its the same three points either way. When you go to a football match you go to be entertained, and lets face it, this was an entertaining game. Sure I wouldn't have enjoyed it if we had lost 8 nil but it would still objectively have been entertaining and there would have been a certain gallows humour to be had from the match. So, I think that this is a silly idea and doesn't have legs.

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bstokesaint added 22:41 - Oct 20 Tadic 9 vs Lallana 7 Pelle 8 vs Lambert 8 Bertrand 8 vs Shaw 8 Alderweireld 9 vs Lovren 8 Clyne 9 vs Chambers 7 Koeman 45 vs Pochettino 38
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Consigliere added 10:15 - Oct 22 It turns out I was wrong about Sunderland players paying for fans' trouble at the weekend - they are to have their brains wiped to erase the memory of the event! See link below to Daily Mash website http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/sunderland-fans-to-have-memo
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