When you are on a run o six straight Premier League defeats, perhaps the last team you want to come up against are a Chelsea side who have won four on the bounce in the league, but sometimes victories come when you have your backs to the wall.
It cannot be denied that at the moment it seems that all the bad karma Saints have racked up over the past year or so has arrived to kick them up the rear end at the same time, injuries, suspensions, poor refereeing, individual errors and atrocious VAR decisions are bad enough when you get each one in isolation, but at the moment it seems that in every game we play we get at least 4 out of 5, if we are very lucky just 3.
So perhaps Saints are due that slice of luck soon, lets hope so.
But a time of writing whilst admitting Saints have 5 players definitely out of the game through injury with 3 of them in Ibrahima Diallo, Kyle Walker Peters and Theo Walcott have been certain to play some part, Ralph hasenhuttl has hinted that there may be another player or two in his squad doubtful although he stopped short of naming them.
Hopefully he is just trying to play down the game and lull Chelsea into a sense of false security.
But the manager has other decisions to make and the first is in goal, a week ago we pondered the question whether it was time to bring Fraser Forster back into the starting line up and the answer was that Ralph stuck with Alex McCarthy, but he again was found wanting when he conceded the second goal against Wolves last weekend, it wasn't the first time he had been beaten at his near post whilst sinking to his knee and doing little to try and stop it and surely Ralph knows that McCarthy is not in good form, he has given him the chance to play through a bad patch but it's getting worse not better.
The next question is who to play at right back Jack Stephens would be an obvious replacement if we stick with 4-4-2, but I have a feeling that there could be a change in the strategy, I would not be surprised if Ralph went with three at the back, Bednarek, Vestgaard & Salisu, with Armstrong & Bertrand effectively wing backs.
Then a central trio of Oriol Romeu & JWP as the holding players with Minamino just in front.
Up front Danny Ings partnering Che Adams.
That would leave options on the bench in Stephens, Redmond, Djenpo so that there is experienced cover in all areas and then several youngsters to make up the rest of the bench.
We just have to break this awful run, no one can odds the bad luck we have had, but it is not all about that, poor decision making has also cost us defensively and if we can cut that out that is half the battle.
We seem to try to always pass our way out of every situation , but when you get closed down sometimes you have t put your foot through the ball and clear your lines, we just don't seem able to do that at the moment.
But in Ralph Hasenhuttl we trust, at some time the injury tide will turn and we will get back into form, hopefully that will be in time for the Bournemouth FA Cup quarter final, but in the meantime we just have to get back to basics and grind out results.
Sometimes a win happens in extraordinary circumstances, perhaps the game against Chelsea will be one of them, but if it isn't we pick ourselves up and go again, this is a strange season and every club seems to lose a few and then win a few.