The direction of Saints season hangs in the balance and a win against the Eagles is desperately needed if we are to avoid slipping down the table.
Last night's results saw Saints drop down the table to 13th and a win tonight against Crystal Palace is desperately needed if we are to jump back up the league and cement a top ten finish, indeed one good point about last night was the defeat of West Brom as although that pushed the Hornets above us, it does give us an opportunity to perhaps make up ground on the Baggies and a win tonight followed by victory at the Hawthorns on Saturday would ive us a great chance of eighth.
In fact this shows just how tightly packed the middle of the table is, by the end of tonight we could be back up to 9th and breathing down West Brom's necks or we could be as low as 16th with the 3rd relegation spot only 4 points below us.
That shows how tight things are getting down there and we need to start picking up points and making sure that we are looking upwards and not down.
In my view Claude Puel got it badly wrong on Saturday and he needs to show that he has a handle on things and can freshen it up when it is needed, ironically he appears to have swung from one extreme to another, in the first half of the season he chopped and changed every week, now he keeps the same side week in week out despite the fact that certain areas need to be addressed.
Again the first issue is in the centre of defence, although we kept a clean sheet on Saturday the reality is that this was more luck than judgement and Bournemouth poured through the centre of defence with alarming ease.
To be truthful as good a club man as Yoshida is, he has been back up for four seasons for good reason, yes he can play a part but he is not good enough for extended periods, especially if he is not alongside a quality experienced partner.
Yoshida is not a leader of men, thats fine not everyone can be, but it is no good when he has to be the man to guide a player who still has barely half a dozen Premier League starts to his name.
Martin Caceres needs to come in and show if he has what it takes still, if not why did we bring him in ?
Puel has to be brave now, recognise what it is that keeps the team going and ot change it, that means keeping that central trio tight, but he has to take risks in other areas, as i have said Caceres has to be tried and up front we need to bring Shane Long in.
Also the manager has to make the right changes, on Saturday his double substitution just after the hour truly upset the rythym of the side and should have cost us the game but for poor finishing by the Cherries, we won't be so lucky tonight.
I would play
Forster
Soares, Caceres, Yoshida, Bertrand
Romeu, Davis, JWP
Redmond Long Tadic.
This is a good enough side to beat anyone, especially when you consider who we have coming off the bench and if you add the likes of Gabbiadini and Van Dijk when they are fit it is a good side.
However it has to show it can do it without the star men and it has to show that the manager is in charge of it and motivating it.
Palace themselves are in form, but the reality is that they are not a good side but have hit a purple patch that has moved them up the league, we now have to burst their bubble.
As I said the middle of the league is tight, but most of the sides around us are average teams punching above their weight, we are a good team in turmoil, as we have been with injuries and other issues throughout the season, yet we are still up there and gunning for a top ten place and this tells you that we have good foundations to move forward on.
Saints need the crowd behind them tonight, the attendance will do well to top 30k, but that is perhaps no bad thing, it is the hard core turning out and they usually stay with the team, it is those that are notable by their absence the moment things aren't going too well who turn on the side the moment things go wrong.
In many respects a similar game to the Watford game in January last season, back then doom and glom was predicted, but Shane Long got an early goal to put us on our way and we never looked back.
We need more of that tonight.