Of course every week is key for Saints, but they have a good chance to extend their lead over the chasing pack in the next round of fixtures.

Starting tomorrow each side in the Championship has a brace of fixtures that could sort the wheat from the chafe out a little more in the race for promotion.

Tuesday November 22nd sees two games, firstly Birmingham City currently with three games in hand over the rest due to Europa League commitments etc take on Burnley at St Andrews, in truth its hard to see anything other than a win for the Blues, although they have slipped up a bit of late and havnt won for the last three games, Burnley have fared worse and look to try and avoid a fourth straight league defeat.

Cardiff are coming up on the rails a tthe moment and they visit Coventry who themselves are desperate to avoid a fourth straight league reverse and indeed their third home defeat in a row to promotion chasing sides, after being beaten at the Ricoh Arena by both ourselves and West Ham, again anything that they could sneak off the Bluebirds would be a help to our cause.

Then to Saturday, if Saints can turn over Bristol City then some of the sides behind us have to drop points, Blackpool are hosting Birmingham, Cardiff are at home to the improving Forest and Hull play Burnley, those along with Leeds V Barnsley are all games where we could do with the chasing pack behind us dropping points.

But the key games for us are West Ham V Derby, the Rams have dropped somewhat after their early season form, losing the last three in a six game record thats seen them win only once and a draw, anything they can do at Upton Park would be good.

Middlesbrough travel to Peterborough and it would be good if the Posh could do us a favour as well as giving their paly off hopes a boost, it will be difficult for Boro (the North east one) in this and a draw would be a good result for Saints

Perhaps our eyes will be on Fratton though were Leicester are the visitors, normally we would want a home defeat, but I feel leicester will start to climb the league now, that being the case perhaps a draw would not only dent leicester's hopes of climbing the table a little but draw Pompey into the relegation dogfight.

Then to the midweek fixtures and next Tuesday see's a full compliment, we of course have a chance to continue our good home form and put more of a gap between us and a member of the chasing pack in the guise of Hull.

West Ham though have a tough trip to Middlesbrough and this will see the two clubs closest to us facing up with at least one and ideally both dropping points, this is perhaps were the real key of the seven days lies, if we can register two victories ourselves, then we have a great opportunity to put more daylight betweenus and either second or third place.

Elsewhere Leicester take on Blackpool, Forest take on Leeds, and with Pompey not playing presuambly because they were due to go to Birmingham who are also missing another game that could mean a backlog later in the season, Bristol City, go to watford, meaning that whatever happens Pompey will see someone below them make up ground.

Its a crunch seven days in the Championship, especially at the top, Saits have two extremely winnable games, its a good opportunity to force home the advantage and take another big step.        

Photo: Action Images

bstokesaint added 06:26 - Nov 22 I can't see beyond Bristol City at the moment. If will be a tough game against a rejuvenated BC side. They've won a couple recently and took a respectable point off West Ham. I'm going to assume West Ham will win at home (like I do every game) and hope we can beat City and then make the most of our opportunity next Tuesday. Won't worry about that one for now though. Looking forward to Bristol on Saturday.

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winchesterbob added 10:26 - Nov 22 Saints just need to keep winning, one game at a time. Although the realist in me knows that there will be defeats along the way, at the moment we are on a roll with a bit of a lead on the chasing pack, long may it continue and preferably continue well into the premiership.
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tiptop added 19:19 - Nov 22 Agreed lads. Lots to look out for. Totally agree with the NA/bstokesaint philosophy - keep winning, one game at a time. Thinking of all those permutations makes me nervous! I think it will be a tough game Sat. New manager and Maynard is hitting form along with some others. A true Championship test but after Brighton. They are scrapping hard and building momentum. Important that we steadily build on our confidence and increase our away points tally. COYR!

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