I said that Palace was our biggest PL game since Man Utd in 2005. This in turn is bigger than Palace. We're basically at the stage now where drawing matches with decent performances isn't enough. Four, probably five, wins keeps us up. Draws assist with that (because without any more, it might even need to be six wins), but nothing more. And if this isn't one of those four or five wins, then I'm not sure if we could ultimately get them. We've got the players to win. We've got the opponents (level of ability, form and confidence). And we've got some sort of resemblance of momentum.
.. and now the good news (not!) Wednesday 31 January Southampton v Brighton Referee: Mike Dean Assistants: Simon Long, Ian Hussin Fourth official: John Brooks
I'm not a panicker (well at least not on a non-match day ), but a lot of truth in this. Not so sure about the WBA game, so need to go into it with another 3 points tucked in our pockets. We are on a roll (albeit a slow one) so need to win this.
Not sure how deep the Baggies squad is, but they seem to pick up a few injuries at Anfield which might be significant?
We will play really well and go 2-0 up before half time with goals from Carrillo and Boufal. We will have absolutely dominated them and have complete control of the game. In the second half we will not go over the halfway line as we attempt to hold on to this lead when it’s very possible we could get another goal. Brighton will start rattling balls into the box as they realise they are well back into the game. Murray will make it 2-1 and it will be backs to the wall. Saints then bring on as many defenders as possible and it will finish 2-2. It’s happened in every other game, why change now?
It is a hugely important game. Massive. If we fail to win, it will make it harder to survive, but prepare for the championship? We do that when mathematically we are relegated. I hope MP2 has a bigger pair than you