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Day One Of Seven Days Of Destiny

The next three days are going to be crucial to Southampton FC in their fight against relegation, but I think that by Monday evening, Saints fans will know whether their team is doomed or there is a chance of a great escape.

Tuesday evening brings the first raft of fixtures in the Premier League that will see all clubs play twice in the space of 7 days with only Friday having no Premier League fixtures.

We start rock bottom on 24 points, Forest on 27, Everton & Leicester on 28 and Leeds on 29, it is hard to see anyone above the bottom 5 now getting dragged into the relegation battle.

Tonight's fixtures see Leeds United take on Leicester City at Elland Road, the sad news for Saints fans is that at least one of them has to pick up a point, it is difficult to decide whether it would be better for a winner in this game or a draw being better.

A Leeds win would virtually see them safe, but leave Leicester still with one foot in the grave, but likewise a Leicester win would be a big springboard for them.

Wednesday night sees Nottingham Forest host Brighton, we could really do with the Seagulls winning this one .

Thursday is the day it really hots up, Everton host Newcastle and we entertain Bournemouth.

Put bluntly if Everton win this one and we fail to beat the Cherries then we could find ourselves a minimum 5 points off safety and to make it harder, only 4 teams within catching distance.

But then it is on to the weekend's fixtures, Saturday sees Brentford host Forest and you would hope only one winner there, but it is Sunday when the screw will turn, Bournemouth will host Leeds and we travel to Newcastle.

Finally on Monday Leicester host Everton.

The issue for Saints is that several of the clubs above us have to pick up points, by Monday evening it could be down to a four game fight out at the bottom of the table.

It is hard to say just what is the best result in any of the games, should we want those playing each other to draw to keep them down there or should we want one of the clubs, probably Leeds or Leicester to pull clear.

But Saints have to keep fighting, it is important that even if we go down that we try and finish third from bottom, that could prove crucial should Everton not finish in the bottom three.

Having breached the Financial Fair Play rules it is likely that Everton will be docked points, the question is whether it is this season or next, back in 2009 when we were relegated to League One we faced a points deduction, but it was not applied till the season was over, if we had stayed up it would have been applied then, but we went down without points deduction needed so they were applied for the following season.

This is likely to be the case for Everton, if they finish out of the bottom three then they could still go down with a points deduction, if they are in the bottom three they will be applied in the Championship.

Either way that could be good news for us, so if we can't get out of the bottom 3 then we should still keep fighting to finish 3rd from bottom.

Of course the cynics will say that the Premier League will not have the bottle to impose a punishment and historically that has usually been the case, in the high stakes modern game, Everton would almost certainly take it to the courts and make various threats, they will be desperate and with a new stadium still a year away they might not make the end of next season if they are in the Championship.

But Everton are not Manchester City or Newcastle, they don't have the financial clout for big court cases and threats.

Of course we would prefer Saints to stay up under their own steam, rather than through sneaky means, but then again so would Everton, but they may have no choice.

Make no bones about it, by next Monday evening we may well already be resigned to our fate, but the season is not over yet, we just need to win the game that are winnable and that starts with the visit of Bournemouth, beating them will make them look over their shoulders a little and give them a real incentive to beat Leeds on Sunday.

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