Saints travel to Selhurst Park this evening with injury issues that make it hard to feel optimistic when writing a preview, however we still have some experienced players to come into the squad so perhaps this will be a night we pull something out of the bag.
Saints go into the game against the Eagles paying the price for defensive errors of the past few weeks, yes it is all ifs and buts, but two soft goals conceded in each game against both Norwich & Leicester plus that gutting equaliser against Brighton, leave us going into this game with our heads looking over our shoulders and not with a cushion to soften the blow when an injury crisis hits.
Ralph Hasenhuttl has let the strain show in recent weeks, he has allowed his frustration about individual errors to come out and although that is wrong for a manager to do, you can understand it given the fact that in the last 5 games we have cost ourselves points in 3 of them by poor goalkeeping and defending.
The manager will feel that he has a good squad by mid table Premier league standards and that he has been let down by his players with the same old story of lapses in concentration, the Liverpool & Arsenal games were free hits in many respects, but we truly dropped 7 points in the games against Norwich, Leicester & Brighton due to individual error, with those points today we would sit 8th in the League and Ralph Hasenhuttl would be being lauded for taking Saints into the upper half of the league.
But that isn't the case and he is clearly frustrated, no one minds being beaten by a better side, but when its the same old individual errors cropping up again and again it's frustrating.
The manager has to shoulder some of the blame, but when the players cross the line there is little he can do,
Thus we travel to Palace with a squad decimated by injury and on the morning of the match it looking very much like neither of our three strikers will be fit enough to play, added of course to both keepers being injured and it looks like Tino Livramento struggling.
There are as many as 7 players who would have been in contention if fit, but could miss out, Armando Broja, Adam Armstrong and Tino Livramento will all face late fitness tests, but it seems that Che Adams, Fraser Forster, Alex McCarthy & Stuart Armstrong are all definitely out for this evening.
Not a good blank canvass to start writing your team sheet on.
Last season this would have reduced us to the bare bones, but this season the squad has a lot more depth and although it will be tough we can at least put out a team that can compete and perhaps one where there will be a few players with something to prove and that could be good.
The good news is that Mohamed Salisu and Oriel Romeu will return from suspension and that will bring the spine back to the team and we have to build from that.
In goal Willy Caballero will start again, he didn't have a great game at Arsenal, but after so long without playing and suddenly thrust into a team where he knew no one and only a few days training with the squad that is not surprising.
Assuming that none of our injured players make the starting line up then i feel we can still put out a strong defence.
Kyle Walker Peters is a more than adequate replacement for Tino Livramento, a central pairing of Jan Bednarek & Mo Salisu is strong and Romain Perraud will relish the opportunity to show that he is a genuine contender for the left back spot, he has not let anyone down in his performances this season and finds himself a victim of circumstance.
In the centre of midfield Oriel Romeu and James Ward Prowse will hold the centre and then it will be a question of how the manager sets out the team.
Option 1 is to play a 4-4-2 and utilise two wingers and two front men, that could see for instance two out of Nathan Redmond, Moi Elyounoussi and Moussa Djenepo utilised with Nathan Tella and Theo Walcott up front, indeed we could almost mix and match any of those 5 for the 2 positions.
But Ralph might decide to go for option 2 and pack the midfield, bringing in Ibrahima Diallo in a central 3 with 2 wide men and only one man up front, again the aforementioned 5 could fill any of those positions.
So we can put out a starting XI with plenty of experience and still have a bench with the likes of Lyanco, Jack Stephens, Will Smallbone, Shane Long & Yan Valery, all players with experience and who can do a job.
I would also think that if Livramento does not make the squad, then Thierry Small will be on the bench for his first taste of Saints first team involvement.
So this is not the same as earlier this year when 7 players out would see us playing kids and at times two goalkeepers on the bench.
But the real worry here is the lack of strikers, without Broja, Adams & Adam Armstrong we have missing over half of the 14 goals we have scored this season in the Premier League and that cannot be glossed over, especially as of the 5 attacking options I have mentioned only Moi Elyounoussi has scored in the Premier League this season.
But sometimes in adversity teams pull out all the stops and find a bit extra to win games when it looks least likely, we can keep it tight at the back and in midfield, but can we score goals.
Palace had not been in great form going into this one until they beat Everton at the weekend, in their previous 11 League games they had won just twice, although they were something of draw specialists with 5 of those and 4 defeats.
But the win over the toffee's will give them some confidence, but they did struggle in that one and the 3-1 win over a poor Everton side was made to look better by a 90th minute goal and up to that point it could have gone any way.
We should have been going into this game a lot higher up the table, but we can't change the past, but we can change the future, the vultures are circling for this one and if we lose it they will start to hone in, but the season has a long way to go, on Saturday we will perhaps have more of our injured strikers back and the Brentford game will be the one we stand a better chance of winning, in this one we need to build the foundations to win on Saturday, if we can do that we can move up the table again.
To do that though we need to score goals and the difference between the first half of last season and this is that we are too reliant on the strikers, none of the support players are truly weighing in, we need all of those 5 who will form the wide players and strikers this evening to start scoring goals, when they do, then things will truly improve.