With the 5th round of the FA Cup fixture against West Ham United due to be played on Wednesday evening, Southampton fan social media has been rife with comments about the game, it seems to be 100% Ralph Hasenhuttl must play his strongest team against the Hammers.

Last season Saints surged to the semi finals of the FA Cup, although only a few Saints fans were lucky enough to see any of the action live, a lucky few who managed to get through by luck on the ballot for residents local to Wembley.

This year the fans have been back although ironically none were allowed to travel to Wales for the 3rd round game against Swansea due to restrictions in the principality banning all spectators at football matches.

For the 4th round against Coventry City Ralph Hasenhuttl made 10 changes from the side that played Manchester City in the previous game, only James Ward Prowse starting both fixtures.

But with a quarter final place up for grabs against the Hammers, Saints fans don't want to see a repeat of the wholesale changes made, they want to see a the manager put out if not quite his strongest side, something resembling it.

With the win over Norwich all but guaranteeing safety in the Premier League and the gap between Saints in 9th and Spurs with a game in hand in 7th holding a 7 point advantage, at this stage of the season the chances of overtaking the two clubs in front and getting into Europe is at this moment in time slim, therefore our best chance of some glory or qualifying for Europe is the FA Cup.

Read Saints social media across the internet and it seems on this the fans are united, there is little difference between finishing 9th or 13th apart from the money, if Saints were to finish 9th then it would be a great season compared to the last few, but no one would remember it in 5 years time.

Claude Puel took Saints to 8th in 2017, but no one remembers that, but they do remember the trip to Wembley for the League Cup final in the same season.

At Southampton we are realists, we know the state of football at the moment and how few sides have actually broken into the top 6 in the last 10 years and indeed how few outside of the so called Big Six have actually got to a cup final let alone won it.

We know that when the chance arises you have to grasp it with both hands and with Premier League safety assured the priority must be Wednesday evening's FA Cup tie.

Ask any Southampton supporter which game they would rather win, West Ham or Aston Villa on Saturday and you would get the same answer, beat West Ham !

So the message is clear to Ralph Hasenhuttl, this is a chance for glory, we have to take it with both hands, at the very least we want to go down with all hands on deck fighting, we don't want any regrets or what if's, it has to be our best side.

In some respects some of the decisions might be made for Ralph, in goal Willy Caballero missed the bench on Saturday with a back problem, so that will perhaps make Ralph's mind up for him.

Some small changes might be acceptable in terms of using players sparingly, if Tino Livramento was to be rested, switching Kyle Walker Peters to right back and bringing in Romain Perraud at left back would not weaken the side by much.

Stuart Armstrong might be another concern , after being out for most of the season, he has now played 5 Premier League games in a row, although he has been vital to the side, we don't know whether his injury is fully recovered, with a lot of options out wide, he could be spared, but only if his injury situation dictates.

Up front Armando Broja gets battered sometimes he needs a break, this might be an opportunity to give Adam Armstrong a game and perhaps he might be the match winner.

But other than these slight tweaks, we want to see 8 or 9 of the players who faced Norwich City on Friday evening starting against West Ham United.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has the potential to be one of the best managers that we have had since the departure of Lawrie McMenemy in 1985, the fact that in those 37 years only Chris Nicholl has served longer at the club and indeed no one since 1991 when Nicholl left, shows the job he has done and more to the point what continuity can do.

The problem for Ralph is that in the last 10 years or so football has changed, for most club's now it is about surviving in the Premier League and not trying to get into the top 4, but every now and then a chance for glory comes along, when it does whether you are a player or a manager of for that matter a fan, when the final whistle goes there has to be everything possible given on the field and no regrets !

Photo: Action Images

dellboysaint added 09:55 - Mar 1 Of course, pick the strongest team. This includes Fraser Forster whose selection has transformed the side after the months of McCarthy’s dithering. Fraser has provided confidence and some brilliant near posts stops. Keep it up, Fraser.
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Peterx added 11:05 - Mar 1 So the comments below could also be applied for the Villa game (except we only have 3 subs) and we remain unchanged for West Ham. Agree with your comments, KWP and Perraud instead of Tino and KWP would not weaken. Perhaps bring Stuart A on for the last 35 mins if required, which it probably will be, as our record without him as we all know is dire.. We could play Redders, Smallbone or Tino in the front right 10 slot for the first 55 mins. I also think Jack for Bednarek is not a real weakening move. Also I think we have 5 subs in the cup(?) so we could even start S Long and AA for the first half. I also sense that this is not West Hams priority (they would never admit to that though), I suspect the league and Europa League are taking precedence. All in all a massive chance for us.

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highfield49 added 11:59 - Mar 1 With the game against Newcastle to be played next week I'm guessing that Livramento and Broja could be replaced, as has been said, by KWP and Perraud at the back and Adam Armstrong up front. Forster has to play on current form and certainly because too much tinkering for no good reason is potentially disruptive. Other than that I'd look to start with the strongest players and look to rest Adams and Stu Armstrong whenever tactically possible. Playing Villa, Newcastle and Burnley in quick succession is going to be demanding on stamina and likely to produce a few knocks as well so the likes of Perraud, Adam Armstrong, Djenepo, Stephens and Redmond are probably going to be needed in the coming week.

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Colburn added 13:43 - Mar 1 I agree about Perraud in the side and perhaps another run out for Stephens and rest Bedders for villa and Newcastle. Djenepo in for Armstrong would make sense too as we don't want him back on the treatment table. Those would be the only changes I would consider unless KWP also needs a break and Valery comes in for him. I wouldn't rest Salisu as he is needed to deal with Antonio and I wouldn't rest Broja because I feel their defence will have a far easier time without him on the pitch.. If we win this, we're just one more win from Wembley and anything can happen if we get to the semis, the way we have improved of late.

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