Sam Allardyce has spoken of how he sees Saints clash with West Ham United at Upton Park on Saturday as a six pointer.
It seems strange for the Hammers manager to be considering this as a must win game for his side seeing as the Hammersare very happy sitting 8th in the table with 11 points, but Allardyce knows from his years of figting relegation with Bolton Wanderers that you need to get the points on the door as soon as possible and give yourself a psycological boost above the other contenders for the drop.
He knows that beating sides like Saints at this point in the season is the difference in the New Year between sitting comfortably in mid table, not looking over your shoulders and having a few squaky bum moments later in the season.
But most importantly he knows that 14 points after only 8 games, the total that the Hammers would be on if they are triumphant against Saints is a great position to be in so early in the season, if Saints are beaten they would be lucky to reach that total by Xmas.
But Allardyce will also know that defeat for his team could drag them into the relegation dog fight, it would leave Saints only 4 points behind West Ham and with the London sides next three games after being Wigan away, Man City at home and Newcastle away not to mention a trip to Spurs and a home game against United at the end of November, Allardyce is looking at a spell from hell as Saints endured at the start of the season, he knows this will make or break the Hammers, beat Saints and they can still be in mid table come December as long as they pick up the odd point or two, lose and they could get dragged down and sometimes the vortex sucks you down and drags you under just at the moment you think you are safe.
So yes for Sam and indeed for Nigel its a six pointer must win game, but for Saints at least every game is must win till we pass that 40 point mark.