Saints take on one of the best teams in the Championship as the worst team in the Premier League, a good gauge of the big gap between the two divisions now, so which one will come out on top and get the chance to be ritually slaughtered at Anfield, The Etihad or another Big 7 club.

Usually FA Cup games are a chance to give the fans something back with cheap tickets, chance to encourage a new generation of fans with cheap tickets and a chance to generate more revenue for football clubs.

But instead of seeing youngsters enjoying a great experience with 20,000 in the ground and a great atmosphere , we will have around 12,000 people as in the last round sitting in a stadium where one stand is completely empty.

This in itself has taken a few thousand off the gate with many Kingsland Stand season ticket holders who enjoy watching the game from a central position on the side of the pitch, faced with having to sit in the corners or behind the goal, give it a miss.

I understand why Saints would want to cut costs and save money, but it is not well thought out, you generate income by generating customers and encouraging them to keep coming back.

In retail terms this is the equivalent having a sale in a shop, but shutting off one of the entrances and closing half of the store, it is not enticing people to come into the premises and keep coming back, given our CEO has his background in retail sales and I suspect most of our marketing team, I would have thought they would have understood this, they certainly don't seem to understand the marketing strategy of a football club.

It is not as if we don't need the money, loaning out Adam Armstrong for the rest of the season served no purpose other than getting his wages off the books for 4 months, in footballing terms it had no logic, the Adam Armstrong critics point out that he is not a Premier League class striker, they may have a point, but up until Saturday when Joe Aribo scored at Ipswich, he was still the joint leading Premier League scorer at the club and top overall with cup games taken into account, he might not have been Premier League class, but he was still better than anyone else we had, think on !

At most clubs loaning out your leading scorer mid season would invoke demonstrations at the next game, not at Southampton.

So rant over lets get on with the Preview, so is this the final of the competition to decide are the bottom clubs in the Premier League better than the top clubs in the Championship or a battle to decide who has the best reserve team ?

I would say neither, the gap between the two divisions means that more and more the promoted clubs are going straight back down and that could well be the case this season.

This is the first time we have played Burnley for 3 years, highlighting the yo yo element of the Premier/Championship gap, they have been down, up & down again, and we have avoided them with our own down, up and now down again path, which will probably see us miss them next season as well.

They became a bit of a bogey side in the last few seasons that we met in the Premier League, in our last 10 meetings with them, we won just twice, both in 2020/21 season although Burnley only won 3 times themselves with 5 being draws.

So what teams will be put out, well as I have said I don't think we will see a battle of the top v bottom, more a battle between a weakened Saints side take on a virtual Burnley 2nd string, put bluntly they have more to play for than we have in the respective leagues.

Burnley come to St Mary's in 2nd place in the Championship, they are 5 points behind leaders Leeds United, but level on points with Sheffield United and with Sunderland just 3 points behind, but both have a game in hand, the Clarets are 16 points ahead of Blackburn in 5th, 17 ahead of Middlesbrough in 7th, so it looks like a play off spot is assured with 15 games left, but a automatic spot is far from assured.

So all the pre match talk of Burnley having conceded only 9 goals in the Championship this season is academic, the chances of their first choice goalkeeper and defence actually playing is slim, likewise most of the rest of their team.

But if they don't let in goals, then they don't score them either, their 37 goals is one of the lowest in the in the division, only Blackburn's 35 goals is lower in the top half of the table and even relegation threatened Portsmouth have only scored 1 less.

So on paper it looks like a low scoring game, but the only paper than will matter in this game will be the teamsheet and that I feel will show no real evidence of the team that usually plays for them in the Championship.

Our team will have a few changes, our joint top scorer is out, out of the door that is, loaned to West Brom, if we need the money surely having him in this game would have covered most of our savings on his wages from loaning him out, the 4th round winners get £120k plus peripheral benefits such as gate receipts, merchandising & TV money, if we won the 5th round that is another £225k in Prize money alone.

We could have done with Adam Armstrong in the FA Cup.

Elsewhere in the team, given Aaron Ramsdale's injury issues this season, I would expect Alex McCarthy to get a game and in defence a few changes, Welington I feel may be one of only two survivors of the back four that played at Ipswich, personally I would like to see Bella-Kotchap partner Nathan Wood in the centre of defence, to let them show what they can do, I see no point recalling Captain Jack if he is fit.

It will be interesting to see what we do in the midfield and out wide, will Flynn Downes get a recall to the side ? will Albert Grobaek get a chance to bed himself into the side, will Ryan Fraser, Charlie Taylor, Ryan Manning be in the starting line up.

I suspect that our side will be a hybrid, around half of the outfield players who started on Saturday at Portman Road will stay in the side, half will be on the bench.

So it will be a contest of two second strings and I would think, indeed hope, that we have greater depth than the Lancashire side.

There will be no reunions with any ex players, Jay Rodriguez left the club in the summer and joined Wrexham & Jack Cork left the club at the end of his contract at the same time, however he is now back at Turf moor as assistant manager/player for the U21 side, so he might well come down with the squad.

Saints under Ivan Juric are now competitive, it's all too late for the Premier League, but a good cup run can bring in money that can be used within the club, not just players and wages, but the £120,000 prize money if we win might just save 3 people being made redundant in the summer, likewise an extra 5,000 on the game at a cheaper price might have saved a couple more.

There is a human aspect to a football club and that is the local people employed in non footballing jobs, those in the marketing department should look closely at what they are trying to achieve at a time when the distance between those running this football club and it's supporters has never been so far apart.

All Photos Via Reuters

underweststand added 11:04 - Feb 7 At least one match where we don't risk losing three points, but it's interesting to see if .. (1) we can begin one of our beloved Cup runs and (2) how a team at the bottom of the Prem. compares with a team who sit in one of the Championship's promotion places. Juric has said that he will play a strong side, but will be without THB and " Captain Jack "thers's a chance to see the other CB options at the club. With B-D and Adam A. gone we will may see some new faces up front, and one or two new names on the bench.

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Bowlercow added 11:44 - Feb 7 ABK is the obvious choice for one CB position but why is he not listed as a player on the club's Web site Big Les or Charley Taylor can also play CB according to their cv's I don't think he will change the team that much though He will want Gronbaek and Wellington to get game time and the same goes for Tyler and Kamaldeen This would have been an ideal game for AA to prove to Juric that he is a goal scorer and that he will need him next season in the championship

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Number_58 added 12:18 - Feb 7 What is this nonsense about loads of 'centrally located' Kingland ST holders not going because they can't sit in their usual seat? It's not the biggest inconvenience in the world to move to another seat is it? God forbid if the game is on Match of the Day and someone pinches their prime spot in the middle of the sofa.
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felly1 added 12:49 - Feb 7 You need to check your facts Nick rather than make them up to suit your belief that Armstrong shouldn't have been oaned. This season including cup games Armstrong has a mighty 3 goals. Cam Archer has 5. Aribo has 3.
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