The draw at Chelsea gave Saints a real morale boost, but the point gained did a whole lot more.

The point gained at Chelsea on Tuesday illustrated just how valuable it is for teams in the relegation struggle to pick up the odd point or two against some of the top teams in the Premier League, not only could this point be vital come the end of the season, but its vital for Saints as they go into a weekend where they have to sit back and watch before playing (hopefully) on Monday night against Everton.

This point means that whatever the results on Saturday that Saints cannot drop into the bottom three, the fact that without it they could have done and indeed even now sit only three points above the drop zone after a thirteen game spell where they have only lost twice shows not only how much trouble that we were in, but how tight the scrap to stay up is.

Now though, weather permitting we can sit back and watch to see if the results go for us, if they do then we could face Everton knowing that a win would give us a six point cushion from the drop zone, plus a superior goal difference, whilst even if the results dont go for us, we will still be clear of the bottom three with a chance to restore that three point gap by beating the Toffee's.

So where do we need to be looking towards on Saturday ?

Perhaps the biggest game is at the Hawthorns where West Brom will face the third from bottom club Aston Villa, a win for the Baggies will plunge crisis club Villa even deeper into that crisis, the form book says that its a banker home win, however one thing Villa showed last Saturday is that they dont lack fight and will graft to the final whistle, so its far from certain.

QPR go to Arry's spiritual home West Ham, hopefully Sam Allardyce will be looking over his shoulder a little and thinking that the Hammers on 26 points are balancing on a bit of a cliff edge, if they lost to QPR and followed that on Wednesday be being beaten at Arsenal, they could be dragged into the melee at the bottom, therefore they will see this as a big game in which they can push themselves withing sight of the 30 point mark that would put them in the home straight to safety, with QPR's situation though even a draw would not be good enough, going into this game they need to win a minimum of six games from their final sixteen probably seven to reach 38 points, add to that they would still need a few draws on top they can afford only four defeats for the rest of the season to stay up, thats a monumental task.

Relegation six pointer of the day though is at Newcastle where Reading are the visitors, in recent weeks its become apparent that Newcastle are in freefall, after a good start they are struggling to pick up points and with Demba Ba having scored 13 of their 27 goals, things arent getting any easier, they know a home win will take a lot of pressure off, but defeat could see them drop into the bottom three, from a Saints perspective a draw would be the best result as not only would it keep Newcastle below us on goal difference, it would be a blow to Reading who would face a big uphill task and like QPR would be looking at least six wins from their remaining 15 games.

Another big relegation battle is at Wigan where Sunderland are the visitors, in recent weeks the Black Cats have picked up a little and like West Ham know that a win will take them well clear of the relegation battle whereas a defeat will plunge them straight back into it, where a draw wouldnt be a bad result for us, probably a Sunderland win would be the most welcome.

Fulham start the weeknd only three points ahead of Saints on the same 25 points that Sunderland are on and the situation for them is the same as for the North East club,, a defeat could drag them into the fringes of the relegation battle, their problem is they travel to Man City, a heavy defeat could actually give us the chance to move above them, they have a -5 goal difference and we have -10, that could easily be changed if City do their job and take them to the cleaners and we can beat Everton by at least a couple.

So its a busy day in the Premier on Saturday, of the seven fixtures being played five have a direct bearing on us, the other two, Liverpool V Norwich and Swansea V Stoke perhaps not so much, although Norwich sit on 26 and like West Ham are at that moment in a season where a couple of good wins takes the pressure off, but a couple of defeats leaves you too close for comfort to the relegation battle.

For our part, we now perhaps need four wins to see us within sight of safety, if we get one of them on Monday night it will not only do a lot of good in terms of our position in the table but morale wise it will be a big boost as we head into our own period of games which by the end of next month could either see us well on the way to safety or very worried.      

Photo: Action Images

Butty101 added 10:03 - Jan 18 WestBrom are in freefall
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sidsaint added 10:27 - Jan 18 Agree West Brom have gone off the boil a bit but the Villa game is very much a one off local derby. QPR have done well in the transfer market and have picked up under HR, could easily get a draw as West Ham are stuttering but again a London derby. Reading are showing a lot of improvement especially last week's remarkable come back, lets hope AP's team show more form and, as you say a draw would be best for us. Let's not forget Everton are playing well as they have done all season and Monday's match will be very difficult. The recent form for us is excellent and NA seems to have got the hang of the premiership as shown by his tactics at Chelsea. The press speculation seems weird but doesn't appear to change his positive outlook. A win for West Brom and West Ham and a draw at Newcastle would be nice.

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Chesham_Saint added 11:10 - Jan 18 If you believe Saints are improving, we should be looking to catch West Ham and therefore a draw might be best. On the other hand, if you think we're not out of the mire, a win for the Spammers is preferable. This being Saints we're talking about I'm plumping for the latter!
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:10 - Jan 18 ADKINS SACKED!! POCHETTINO IN!!??! I can't believe it!!!! What the f*** has Cortese done???
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bstokesaint added 12:13 - Jan 18 Ripped the heart out of the club. Made us look like a joke in the eyes of the footballing world. Taken us backwards 3 years. Put us in huge danger of relegation. Other than that nothing..
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SaintJez added 12:32 - Jan 18 disgrace.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:32 - Jan 18 I feel sick. Surely Cortese could see that we'd turned the corner and were improving!? We've lost a guinine, talented English manager who has performed miracles for the club. He didn't deserve this after our form in the last 10 games or so. How are the players going to react to this? This new Argie bloke has never played or managed in England. While he learns the Premiership he could end up taking us down. Shocking.

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StSaint added 12:39 - Jan 18 To say I am gutted would be an understatement. I truly think that Adkins is the best manager we have had in the 25yrs I have been supporting them. Honest, decent and doesn't come out with the same sh*t that most other managers do. More importantly he had us playing great football. For us to be where we are in the league with our CB's is a miracle. We were getting better every game - what the fcuk is NC on??! The Everton game should be boycotted. So angry.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:45 - Jan 18 Luke Shaw tweet: 'Very confused lol' Press conference at 2:30pm with Pochettino who will be talking via an intepreter! He can't even speak English!!?! Please tell me its April 1st. This can't be happening!!!!
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bstokesaint added 12:48 - Jan 18 I agree StSaint. Only problem with a boycott is that it ultimately undermines the club we all love. Just look at the shambles at Chelsea. The problem we have at Southampton is our club's financial stability lies at the hands of a ruthless (and heartless I now believe) individual. The odds are when and if he ever walks we might not ever have the same sort of financial security. We're stuck in between a rock and a hard place. This is a huge and unnecessary risk.

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slynch added 12:56 - Jan 18 Everybody thinks he did well to sack the last manger!?!
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StSaint added 13:08 - Jan 18 I actually didn't mind when Pardew got sacked, which I suppose makes me a huge hypocrite, though this leaves me disgusted (I see the illogical nature of this post).
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SaintJez added 13:10 - Jan 18 There's no way the fans en masse will be happy with this and the stadium atmosphere on Monday night will reflect that. Being as we've literally just taken unexpected points from a Chelsea side unable to play at home largely due to their home support not getting behind the team, I'm amazed at what Cortese has done. Our home form will be crucial to us staying up and the fans have a big part to play in that. Monday night would have been rocking at St Marys. Now, there'll be unrest all around the ground and this may well translate onto the pitch. Utterly mindless, stupid move from a chairman who fits that description perfectly.

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ExiledSupporter added 13:42 - Jan 18 I feel disgusted and ashamed to be associated with a club 'managed' by a Chairman with such questionable ethics and judgement. Perhaps it shows that Chairmen have much more responsibility for the implosion of clubs than managers can ever be held responsible for (Lowe is the other obvious example) I was worried about the state of play within the club when I posted a comment late last night on Nick's Saints vs Chelsea Verdict (see contribution 16) so while not altogether surprised I am aghast about this change and all its ramifications. Clearly Adkins had little input into this summers transfer dealings as we had suspected for some while. Doesn't sound as though the new guy will either with the title of First Team Manager which implies the appointment of a Director of Football sooner or later Impossible to understand Cortese's rationale - this new guy seems to have achieved far less that Nigel Adkins, he doesn't speak English, he has no experience in the Premiereship. The club announcement struggles to provide any substantial reasoning for this suicidal move...my head is in my hands. If Cortese had to get another manager he could have chosen from amongst better qualified managers with a far better track record than this guy eg. DiMatteo. Neither the sacking nor the appointment make any sense outside the weird perspective of Cortese (who looks on track to be almost as unpopular as Lowe) Despite his failings (a few of which were contributory to lost points) he was an irreproachably decent and honest individual who probably had a broader base of support among fans than any manager we have had since Ted Bates (perhaps only Gordon Strachan towards the end of his sojourn) While no doubt NA will get a decent settlement and a new job in a matter of weeks, we have unnecessarily damaged our prospects and reputation...self respect!

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CWF added 13:46 - Jan 18 Why now? You could have possibly understood before our recent good run but this makes no sense. I felt gutted when I found out, we can still avoid relegation but it will be tougher now. Thank you and sorry Nigel, you always behaved as a gent and were 100% motivated to get the best out of our squad. Good luck as you will be back in management vey soon.
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thingummy added 20:36 - Jan 19 It made me smile to hear that Adkins in line for Chelsea job because he knows how to build a team ........ He shouldn't take the Blackpool job - they will never be sustainable in the top division wait for the right right job - he doesn't need "any" job with his record and payoff
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