Saints survived last weekend without being relegated, but defeat against Fulham would all but confirm relegation regardless of results elsewhere, even a rare home victory could still see us relegated on all but goal difference.

Saints take on Fulham knowing that by 5 pm they could be all but relegated and even victory and results going for them elsewhere later in the weekend would still leave them an almost impossible task.

Leeds take on Newcastle at Elland Road in the 12.30 game and if they win that they will be on 33 points, the maximum that Saints can get now, but they would have a minimum plus 9 goal difference.

Leicester also on 30 points host Liverpool on Monday evening with Everton now 4th from bottom on 32 play on Sunday when they host Manchester City.

Given their goal difference Saints have no choice now but to win all 3 games and hope that both Leeds & Everton don't win any of their last 3 games.

This is an almost impossible task and it will split Saints supporters on the Fulham game, there will be those that will want the team to win and keep fighting till the end, but some will prefer a defeat and our fate to be confirmed over the course of the weekend, so that we can start planning for next season.

Either way it has all the ingredients for a toxic afternoon.

This would benefit no one, there is plenty of time for recriminations and finger pointing in the summer, but personally I prefer to talk about what needs to be done going forward and not what has already happened and now can't be changed.

It will be hard to predict just what team Ruben Selles will pick, initially he seemed to know who his best players were and the formation he wanted to play, but the pressure got to him and each game see's multiple changes in the line up and multiple substitutions as the Spaniard desperately tries to find a solution to a situation that he has been unable to keep under control.

I would start by restoring Gavin Bazunu to the goalkeeping role, Alex McCarthy has not made any great change to the situation either between the sticks or in his defence in front of him, that being the case we have to look to the future and that potentially is Gavin Bazunu.

In defence who knows, Armando Bella-Kotchap looked a man who couldn't give a toss at Nottingham Forest, who when finding himself left for dead suddenly clutched his hamstring and came off.

Lyanco & Jan Bednarek deserve their place in the defence this weekend.

At full back it is difficult, Kyle Walker Peters is worth his place, but who do you play on the other side from him, Perraud is out for the rest of the season and Ainsley Maitland- Niles had a shocker at the City ground. I can't see who we could replace him with for this one though.

James Ward Prowse may get stick from a section of our support, but he is still our most consistent player, he is forced to play deep and also has little to aim at in passing forward, but he is one of the few that you could never accuse of lacking guts, passion and not trying.

Likewise Romeo Lavia, he must know that whether Saints stayed up or not, he was leaving for greater things next season, yet to his credit he has kept going in every game.

Charly Alcatraz is another, he has shown heart and a knack for scoring, this may turn out to be counter productive as if he had suck into the abyss like some of his team mates and remained under the radar, I think now there are those who will covet him for next season.

After this Ruben Selles can stick a pin into the squad sheet, lets be honest none have truly shown that they are 100% nailed on starters, perhaps I am a little harsh on Che Adams here, but him aside no one has truly shown consistency.

At Nottingham there were those questioning why Tall Paul isn't being given a starting role , I agree he had a decent game when he started at Chelsea, but he has not built on that, he started the following game at Leeds and did little in his 63 minutes before being taken off, since then he has been restricted to coming off the bench.

Some claim he wasn't given a chance, but when he arrived he started his career here coming off the bench at Brentford at half time followed by three straight starts, since then the only thing I can remember him contributing was that late header at West Ham, at Forest he floundered around.

Perhaps not all his fault given the service he was getting, but he hasn't grasped the opportunity.

So all we can hope from this one is that we put in a performance and perhaps get a win, we might not be able to stay up, but it would be nice to see some guts and passion and perhaps some hope that there are players at this club who will still be here next season who will be able to be part of getting us back up and not just continue the problem.

Photo: Action Images

Ifonly added 11:24 - May 12 Listen to experienced heads in the game. They will tell you that it can often take a season for a player to adjust to the PL after coming here from Europe. Just changing clubs within any league is an adjustment to different team mates, manager, tactics, routines etc. Moving up to the PL takes this to another level. Yet you expect Tall Paul to be on top form after a couple of games? If we hold on to him for next season he could be a big bonus in the Championship. So if you reckon we should play Bazunu because he is the future, then why not Tall Paul?

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DellBoyWally added 11:48 - May 12 Away win
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davenbennett added 12:17 - May 12 I went to Leeds away. Big Paul was being literally hauled down everytime he tried to win a ball. No attempt to play the ball, just the man. Sulemane was playing up front with him. Didn't work. We pick teams to play the failed 4 2 2 2 system. Needed to build team around strength of players we have. Sulemane is very fast, so stick him on half way line and play balls down the byline. Big Paul can win balls in the air. No good giving him same service as Sulemane. Play 4 3 3, with another winger. Attack up left, right winger moves closer to Big Paul for knockdown. It might not work, but what have we got to lose? After game, when down, play Ballard and Doyle, even if just 20 mins off the bench. They have to be our future.

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ItchenNorth added 13:17 - May 12 Start Bazunu AMN, Lyanco, Bednarek, KWP Lavia, JWP, Alcaraz Endozie, Sulemane Che A Its bngo or bollox time !
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Russpitter added 14:05 - May 12 Can we not replace Ainsley Maitland-Niles with James Bree?
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ItchenNorth added 17:20 - May 12 James Bree is a good call. He's better than many have given him credit for.
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allsaint54 added 20:24 - May 12 Agree. After Forest game AMN shouldn't be anywhere near the first team. Bree could well be a steady player in Championship
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SanMarco added 11:03 - May 13 Good ideas here. Why not Bree + Tall Paul has been given no chance to get going. Whatever we do AMN should not be at left-back - which, of course, means he will be. Surely we all want to win this just in case? Those that say they want us to lose are surely just getting their disappointment in early. The toxic atmosphere will be caused by that disappointment/anger + a third game in a row where fans of clubs we should have been AT LEAST competitive with joyously singing "going down, going down, going down..."

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Boris1977 added 12:38 - May 13 Where we are now is the culmination of the 5 years of clueless followed by disastrous choices made by the board. Chairman Goa had the excuse that not long after he took over the geo-political situation between the west and the east soured and therefore he was restricted on financing the club. Sports direct do not have any excuse for bad managerial decisions, ridiculous and speculative player recruitment policy both last summer and this January and a seemingly indifference to the plight of the club. The analytics they use to make appointments is fine as far as it can provide statistical information on players and managers but this information needs to be applied to the situation in hand rather than used as the sole motivation. Once human nature collides with neat pure statistical data chaos often ends up as the outcome. These clowns need to either adapt their methods or sell up.

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