Saints were withing two injury time minutes of getting out of the bottom 3 on Saturday, what would have been a real phycological boost for Russell Martin & his side and a blow to to those other teams threatened with a relegation battle, but can they do it this weekend.

Saints will have to sit back and watch over the weekend, they don't play until Monday evening when they travel to Bournemouth, but although we have had an atrocious start to the season, our rivals in the bottom third of the table have not fared much better and we could if results go our way on Saturday on Sunday pull out of the drop zone and not only move up the table, but drag others into the picture.

The first game that will affect us, at least in alphabetical order is at the Emirates where Arsenal take on Leicester City, the Foxes are yet to win this season, but their 3 draws see them only 2 points above us, it is hard to see anything other than a defeat against the Gunners who could have been joint top, if like us they could held on for another couple of injury time minutes at Manchester City, so they sit 4th on 11 points, lets hope that get another 3 on Saturday and give us a shot at being above Leicester.

Brentford are a side who with 6 points are at a crossroads, but they host West Ham who only have 4 points and are a side who we could overtake if we can overhaul a 4 goal difference from the two games.

On the face of it a good Brentford win would be the best result, but perhaps in the long term a draw might be better as although we wouldn't be able to overtake the Hammers, it would keep both teams in our sights and with relegation threatening them.

Next it is to Goodison Park where Everton take on Crystal Palace, the Toffee's as we know are below us on goal difference with a single point and the Eagles have 3, so this is another game that whichever way it goes will see a rival drop points, so perhaps a draw is best and it would give us a chance of putting space between us and Everton and above Palace on goal difference.

Nottingham Forest take on Fulham, both have had reasonable starts with 9 & 8 points respectively, so although they won't affect us directly now, in the longer term they could both struggle.

Bottom of the table Wolverhampton Wanderers host Liverpool in the 5.30pm kick off, so i would not expect too many of the Liverpool haters amongst the Southampton fan base to be wanting them to lose or even draw this weekend.

On Sunday Ipswich host Aston Villa and we have to hope this goes to form and Villa continue their good start to the season and win so we can jump above the Tractor Boys as we were so close to doing on Saturday.

Manchester United host Spurs in the second game, both teams are on 7 points, it would be nice to see them looking over their shoulders this season, instead of upwards, a draw might see them doing that, if just for a short while.

So if things go our way over the weekend and then we beat Bournemouth, then we could find ourselves as high as 14th, if that was the case then we would be just a point behind the Cherries who would remain in 13th place.

Realistically though we should at least have a shot at getting out of the bottom 3 with Leicester at Arsenal, that should be at least 1 club whom we could overtake and Palace could well drop a point or two at Everton.

But as I always say a season is a marathon not a sprint, we have got one point on the board and now we have to keep getting points on the board.

If we take a positive approach to the season so far, our woes lie from issues in the opening games that have now been potentially solved, a new goalkeeper, the emergence of players who have stepped up to the plate since the opening two defeats such as Tyler Dibling, Mateus Fernandes, Adam Lallana being just 3, we have changed things from August, many of our relegation rivals have not.

So we can go to Bournemouth with confidence, albeit a fragile one, but the supporters know and so do the players that things have changed, Saturday showed a slight watering down of the 100% possession football game, that could well be the difference on Monday night.

Photo: Reuters or Imago

saintmark1976 added 11:24 - Sep 25 We could but we won’t because having wasted money on the likes of Diaz and Archer we can’t score goals, which is rather important when you are attempting to win football matches.
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Bowlercow added 11:33 - Sep 25 Didn't St Nigel once recite a poem called If I think that could be applied to this whole set of fixtures Does anyone know if Captain Jack was further punished for the foul and abusive language charge
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A1079 added 12:06 - Sep 25 In answer to your headline - No
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highfield49 added 13:13 - Sep 25 Bowlercow, as far as I can see Captain Jack will be available for the trip to Arsenal on 5th October. I've got a feeling of dread already, don't do it RM even if THB and Bednarek get red cards at Bournemouth. As for getting out of the bottom three, surely one of the forwards is going to find form sooner than later? That said, I'm glad we didn't sign Delap to add to our woes.

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SaintPaulVW added 15:48 - Sep 25 Leave the doom and gloom to our fellow strugglers. The squad is settled, performaces have improved and we have some genuine PL stars. We started slowish last season when lots of people, including me, confidently stated that we wouldn't go up under Martin if carried on playing this kind of football. He tweaked the playing style throughout the season despite claiming that his 'philosophy' was unchanged, so.... Yes ......but it may not be this week, lol. COYR

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