Its tough at the top as every game becomes vital.

Brighton arrive at St mary's and a near capacity crowd the latest team to enter the lions den and aiming to stop a run of home wins that stretches back to the beginning of the yearand burning with a desire for revenge for the way Saints pooped their unbeaten home run party at the end of last season, that being the case this could be the hardest home game Saints will face all season although in our position the next game is always the hardest.

What Saints have to do however is forget about record number of home wins and concentrate on the task in hand and that is another three points, many a side has come unstuck because as winning runs continue and record books are brought out, they become weighed down with the burden of getting closer to a particular landmark and this can affect players on the pitch.

However in Nigel Adkins we seem to have a manager who is calm and level headed and from that respect is well equipped to keep his players feet on the ground and their minds focused on the real job in front of them.

The Seagulls arrive at St Mary's in perhaps a little worse position that they hoped to be in a month or so ago, in the early part of the season they vyed with us for top spot and for a while it looked like it could be the same two for automatic promotion two years running, however in recent weeks they have faded and although they are only two points from a play off spot, there is a lot of traffic in front of them and indeed around them, so much so that although a win at St Mary's could push them up from 10th to 5th if results go right, a resounding defeat could see them drop as low as 15th, a position that could see them only a point ahead of Pompey.

That should emphasise to Saints the need to keep winning and keep aiming for automatic promotion rather than get dragged into a play off dog fight, where at the moment any team in the top 15 is capable of a challenge for promotion albet perhaps through the play offs.

Away from home the Sussex side have a decent record, having won 3, drawn 2 and lost 3 of their away trips, although perhaps the most significant thing to notice on their stats is the lack of goals at either end of the pitch, in those eight games they have only conceded 7, but conversely only scored the same amount.

Their last four away trips have seen them lose 1-0 at Watford, preceded by a 0-0 draw at Birmingham, 1-1 at Millwall and a 3-1 loss at Ipswich, in many respects Birmingham aside not difficult fixtures yeilding only 2 points and 2 goals scored, however the significant stat is that despite the poor points return in those four games they only conceded five goals and three of them were at Ipswich, the truth is they are going to be a side that is difficult to break down.

We found that out last season, their tactics on the road seem to be to keep it tight and then sneak a goal late on and any side with Craig Mackail Smith in it will have a good chance of doing just that, look at last year wwe had 11 on target to their 3 and 10 off target to their 5, they have a way of playing and its true to say its not like Peterborough's.

So they arrrive on the back of a run of poor form, if we look back two months to mid September and ten games they have won only once, drawn 4 and lost 5, given the 2 points a game target and their tally of 7 from 10, their form at the moment is that of relegation not promotion and if they repeat that over the next ten games, then they could find themselves flirting with relegation.

But again the worrying statistic to look at is that goals conceded column, in recent weeks they have stabilised winning their last game and although the points total isnt great they only let in 4, all sseason they have conceded only 17 and thats exactly the same as us.

So we have to watch Brighton, we cant afford to let these lapses of concentration happen on Saturday, they will be looking for that one lapse and if they get a goal they will defend in depth even more and go on the break and we know that just what we dont like at home.

But Saints are a far better side than theyy were last season and indeed than Brighton, we ned to keep playing with that swagger and without fear, if we do what we do well whcih is attack and score goals and cut out the errors then we are quite capable of sweeping the Seagulls aside and continuing our march onwards.

Photo: Action Images

patred added 09:38 - Nov 18 bus parkers.. says all
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