Saints take on a City side on a roll and with Arsenal in their sights for a second place fight out, that is bad news for Southampton fans as they are the teams we play in two out of our last three games.

If Saints are to gain that last point that will see us avoid being the joint worst Premier League team ever, they are going to have to do it the hard way and get it either against one of the two teams that are fighting for second place in the Premier League or against an Everton side who may ride on a wave of emotion on the final day of Goodison Park as a League stadium.

On paper the arrival of Manchester City does not make good reading, they have slowly but surely found their form, since losing to Nottingham Forest at the beginning of March, they have won 5 and drawn 2 of their 7 League games played.

That has lead them to get within 2 points of Arsenal after the Gunners unexpectedly dropped 5 points in their last 2 games, so what was looking like a season ending with little to play for is now a second placed shoot out.

With the Gunners travelling to Anfield on Sunday, that also gives Pep Guardiola's side extra impetus as by winning at St Mary's they could find themselves only still in 3rd place on goal difference.

So what can Simon Rusk do to get his Saints side in with a chance at least of gaining a point on Saturday ?

The answer is simple, do something different !

Rusk has mainly stuck rigidly to the same group of players in his 4 games in charge and with the exception of the West Ham game which was a draw, the other 3 games ended with defeat, all with a taste in the mouth that we should really have got something out of them.

The problem has been at the back we have a pedestrian back 3, all are similar players, all are not particularly fast and in some cases their ability to read a game is not the best, and poor marking has cost us dearly as we all know.

So Rusk has to make his mark, I have no problem with his formation, in many respects he has stopped the goals flowing in large numbers in our net, but both the fans and players, both ours and the opposition, know our weaknesses.

Rusk has had a lack of quality substitute options on the bench in the games, but that is his own fault, players that could have played a part have been noticeable by the absence of their names on the bench, Adam Lallana, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Charlie Taylor, Ryan Fraser, Wellington, Albert Gronbaek are 6 players who have played a part either last season or this, 4 of them are full internationals, look through those either playing or sitting on the bench and tell me that they are worse than them.

All are experienced players in top flight football either the Premier League or in other countries, some might not be better than those being picked ahead of them, but not all of them, certainly not all of them by a long chalk.

So Rusk has to look firstly to the back three and make a big decision, I hope Rusk goes on to be a good manager, it would be nice to see it happen at St Mary's, in some respects he has done well, he has stopped the rot to a degree and slowly got a squad playing with some sort of cohesion, but that is not enough.

Rusk has to move it forward and that means a change in personnel both on the pitch and on the bench.

Why has the pace and strength of Bella-Kotchap been overlooked, why has the Premier League experience of Lallana, Fraser & Taylor not been utilised, they have the traits we have been missing, a lack of strength, pace, experience & nous.

That is why we did not hold on against Palace & Fulham, why we collapsed in the last 18 minutes against Villa & in the defeat to Leicester was a game too far for the same side getting the same results.

This is a key game for Rusk, he has to show some leadership and insight.

This preview sounds very familiar, it should do I have been saying the same things before and after virtually every game since mid December, there is a good reason for that and that is we keep doing the same old things and getting the same old results.

The chances of getting something in this game are slim, lets be blunt, I don't think you will find a single Southampton supporter who will say they think we can get even a point, but you never know, stranger things have happened.

All Photos Via Reuters

KilkennySaint added 02:13 - May 10 I can understand why we aren't playing Adam Lallana, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Charlie Taylor, Ryan Fraser, Wellington, Albert Gronbaek. The team has been outstanding this season and so close to achieving the greatest glory in the clubs history of beating Derbys amazing record. To take stephens, bednerak, THB, Manning, smallbone, aribo, sulemana etc out at this stage and replace them with better players is crazy talk. What if these last three nothing games is where they are going to prove us wrong and show us they have always been premier quality players.

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