The importance of this game cannot be underestimated, defeat although not yet being terminal is unthinkable, this calls for one of those special days at St Mary's where the players respond to the call and the fans raise the roof.
Saints take on Palace for the 3rd time this season having lost 1-0 at Selhurst Park in the League, but gone back in the FA Cup in January and staged a comeback from 1-0 down to win 2-1.
These two games showed that there is little between the two sides, but the League clash showed that fatal flaw that Saints have had this season, on too many occasions we have conceded soft goals and missed our own chances to lose by a single goal, usually 1-0.
When Ruben Selles took over from Nathan Jones there was a bounce within the squad, but of late that bounce hasn't been there and it seems that Selles is suffering from having too many players in the squad after a spending spree under Jones in January that in hindsight seemed panic buying.
All this seems to have done is divided a bloated squad into two, those who are in Selles plans and those who due to the sheer weight of numbers find themselves not even able to get on to the bench at times let alone the pitch.
But I still maintain that this is a squad better than it's league position, yes it has fatal flaws, but it has enough about it to be able to get away with things in games and get something out of it.
But the time is running out and we need to start getting back to winning ways, only 4 weeks ago that looked to be the case after beating Leicester and following it up with a good point at Manchester United, but that game was the first of 5 games that yielded only 2 points.
In some respects that could be seen as not being a bad haul, after all three of those games were against Spurs, Manchester City and in form Brentford, but the truth is that once again when faced with a rival down the bottom we failed to perform, a draw against Tottenham showed promise, but better to have lost that one than than yet another 1-0 defeat at West Ham.
So Ruben Selles has to find that bounce back in his squad, he has to get some confidence that we can win again and then again and again.
At the back I think our best line up is Maitland-Niles, Bednarek, Bella Kotchap & Walker Peters, the right balance of experience, pace and youth.
In midfield it starts to get more difficult, Ward Prowse & Lavia are musts, but what does he do for the remaining 4 places.
Goalscoring is a problem and the hope is that Che Adams is fit enough to play at least some part in this game, if not there are few players who have put in good displays on a consistent basis.
Sulemana, Djenepo, Stuart Armstrong, Adam Armstrong, Charly Alcatraz, Sam Edozie, Sekou Mara, Joe Aribo, Moi Elyounoussi & Theo Walcott have all had their moments, but none have put in a consistent run of games that has forced their inclusion in the side, every Saints fan will have their opinion, but the truth is there are 10 players who have at some time done something that puts them in the picture for one of the 4 remaining spots, but none is a nailed on choice for Saturday and that is Ruben Selles problem.
This number is not even counting the two players signed in January who have yet to show anything much that demands their inclusion in the starting line up, Tall Paul Onauchu & Mislav Orsic.
Out of these 12 players perhaps the only thing 95% of Saints fans would agree on would be that they can't fathom why Selles places such faith in Elyounoussi.
I think that although they have a point, Elyounoussi has been no worse than anyone else in that dozen and indeed seems to able to hold his position a little better than most, but again he doesn't demand selection from his performances.
I have to be honest I could spend an hour going through various permutations of choosing 4 for the starting line up from that 12, but nothing screams out pick me.
But the time has now come that we just have to see some of these players step up to the plate, they are all talented, they just now need to show it.
We need to play without fear and so far that has been the problem, we know our weaknesses in defence, we know that aside from the inability to mark up at set pieces that if we push forward too far we get caught on the break.
That has been showed on too many occasions this season and must play on our minds when attacking, we are too scared to commit too many players in case we get caught.
That is why I think KWP & AMN are the men to play as full back, they both have pace and can cover.
So we have to play without fear, go out there and outscore the Eagles, be confident that we can do. This is a game that we have to fight for right up to the final whistle, we have shown this season we can come back from going behind and we can do so late on as we did against Spurs, this is not a time for fire drills if we concede a goal, it is a time to get behind the team and rally them as we did against Spurs to mount a comeback.
The time for booing may well come, but it should be at the final whistle, not during the game.
By 5 pm on Saturday evening we will know a lot more about our chances of avoiding relegation, but at 3pm the hope is still there, at this point negativity should not be an option, the only attitude is positive, the players have to answer some big questions, the main one being do they have the stomach for a fight in the final 8 games, that is the question we the supporters have to ask ourselves and respond to at kick off tomorrow.