It has seemed like an eternity but at last Saints can get back to Premier League action after a weekend of watching their rivals play.
Saints return to playing football tonight for the first time in 16 days and it has been a weekend where the league has started to take shape, when it started Saints were looking back over their shoulders and seeing the likes of West ham & Swansea, now they are looking at Newcastle and Manchester United.
It was a mixed back of results for Saints, the two teams either side of them won which keeps the pressure on for this evenings trip to Aston Villa, but perhaps more interesting is the way the League is shaping up from 4th place downwards.
I said this last year and I still think it is true today that ultimately the teams we are challenging for a top seven spot are the usual suspects of Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool & Everton, ultimately they are the sides with the squad and experience to occupy those positions, it is those club we have to keep our eye on.
As mentioned Chelsea and City did their jobs as expected, Arsenal again misfired but in doing so they have allowed Manchester United to jump into fourth place and we should note that as it stands this morning, United even in turmoil are still only six points behind us, conversely though the Gunner would be eleven points adrift if we can win at Villa Park.
Also coming up on the rails are Everton, dont write them off yet and they are still only 9th but they are starting to gel and have some winnable games ahead in the next few weeks.
Their neighbours Liverpool though are a completely different story and their defeat at Crystal Palace was that of a team devoid of leadership and seemingly not playing for the manager, even with a back to basics side with Rickie Lambert up front they through away an early lead and in the end could have conceded five or six, they were so bad im seriously worried that Brendan Rodgers is close to the sack and they will come in for Koeman. However a win for us tonight and we could have a gap between us that could be too much for them to make up.
Spurs got yet another last minute winner against Hull, of their 5 wins this season, the 3 on the road have all been last minute winners, the last two helped by playing against 10 men for a long period. Spurs are at a crucial period, they are not playing well but fluking wins, what they do next will have big repercussions on where their season goes, whether they will stay at the level their results deserve or start to gel under Pochettino.
So the upper half of the table is starting to take shape and we now have to play our part in it by keeping winning games