Saints could be kicking off in two weeks time at the Emirates Stadium knowing that victory by two goals would see them top the Premier League.
It has to be said that Sunday's results went for Saints, starting the day knowing that they could drop to fifth if both Man City and Spurs won, they got a big boost when the form book went out of the window and both went down to unexpected 1-0 defeats.
This meant that Saints would stay in 3rd place for the fortnight of the International Break and that is a big big psychological boost.
Arsenal's defeat at Old Trafford though has suddenly opened out a whole new scenario and it could be that Saints could top the Premier League if they can beat the Gunners on their own patch by two clear goals.
But before that option happens it will need Liverpool to fail to win at Everton in the 12.45 kick off, Liverpool will start the day ahead of Saints by only a point, but if they take the maximum at Goodison Park then Saints wont be able to catch them and would have to settle for second place if they beat the Gunners, if Liverpool fail to win though then Saints could overtake them with a win against Arsenal.
Saints goal difference is currently plus 10, whilst Arsenal are plus 11, so if Liverpool fail to win, to leapfrog both them and the Gunners and sit on top of the Premier league we will need to win by two goals as a one goal win would see us level on points and goal difference but Arsenal would stay in top spot courtesy of goals scored as they have hit 7 more than us.
So by the time the game kicks off at the Emirates Saints supporters will know whether the unthinkable could happen and Saints could top the league for the first time since 1989, when after winning the opening three league games we sat top, ironically the 4th game was away to Arsenal at Highbury and Saints lead 2-0 with 8 minutes left, the controversial incident of the game had seen GlennCockerill have his jaw broken by the home sides Paul Davis in an off the ball incident not spotted by the ref at the time, after pulling back a goal with 8 minutes to go the Gunners equalised in the considerable injury time added on for the treatment to Cockerill, this knocked Saints back to 2nd place and this point for Arsenal was vital in the grand scheme of things as they ended up winning the title by goal difference in a do or die trip to Anfield, without the point from the Saints game, Liverpool would have taken the title.
Whatever the result at the Emirates, it cant be denied that it is a great feat for Saints to be challenging for the top spot with almost a third of the season gone, there are some tough games ahead but if we can pull this result out of the bag then it will truly be a triumph and a big step forward, I never thought I would be writing an article this season about how we might be disappointed only to be playing to hit the second place spot.