Saints recommence action in the Premier League knowing that they are getting closer to that 30 pont mark where safety starts to come into view.

Ask any seasoned Saints relegation veteran from the 1990's and they will tell you, the trick to survival is to get past the 30 point mark as early as possible as that gives you a psycological adavantage.

Despite widespread belief to the contary Saints are still on that delicate ledge where if they fall one way they could find themselves right back in the relegation mire, but if they put their foot on the pedal and have a surge forward then they can put themselves in sight of the safety line.

The first step of that is passing the magical 30 point mark, to do that gives you a huge psycological advantage over the clubs in the relegation battle, at this stage its hard to put an exact figure on the number of points needed to stay up, but 37-38 is a best guestimate as it stands at the moment, with 12 games left for Saints and 11 points needed to hit that total its fair to say its completely in our hands.

hat we need now though is a little surge, our next two games see us play two clubs below us and if we can walk off the field after playing QPR and have over 30 points on the board then thats a good target to aim for.

As it stands we three wins out of our last 12 games would almost certainly see us safe, whilst it could be as low as two as long as we win a few, the first task though is to come through the trip to St James Park unscathed, a draw there would set us up nicely for the visit of QPR who could find themselves under great pressure by then and be in last chance saloon, four points out of these two games would almost certainly see us not only well over the 30 point mark, but well clear of the bottom 3 and just as we loked up at teams like Stoke, Swansea and West brom a few weeks ago and thought that their little surges had taken them out of any lingering doubts of relegation,, four points from the next two would do exactly the same for us.

But cross that 30 point barrier and we are in the home straight, of that there is no doubt, we will be able to see the finish line and aim for it, seasoned relegation campaigners will tell you, the trick in the premier League is to get safe as quickly as possible, then you can start to plan for next season, too many people at the moment are starting to count their chickens before they are hatched, a dangerous occupation in the Premier as Birmingham found out a couple of years back and indeed we experienced ourselves when we though we had dragged ourselves out of the mire come the end of March and then saw a terrible run drag us right back down.

Get these points on the board early and then we can sleep safely.        

Photo: Action Images

SaintinMalta added 10:44 - Feb 18 I do enjoy reading your posts, but I don't think this relegation 'fight' is like that of the 90's (or even 60's & 70's - of which I remember)! I think this team, and the manner in which they've played of late, are much superior to those sides of the past. The one good thing about living in Malta (aside of the weather of course), is that I get to watch Saints play 'live' every week. I am currently watching a team right now, more than capable of catching Norwich, Fulham, & West Ham above us, and whilst I understand your concerns at the relegation places - and who will fill them, dare to look 'up' the table - not 'down'! Oh, and by the way, with one or two useful additions in the summer, this will be a 'Top 10' team next season!!

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SonicBoom added 11:10 - Feb 18 Who is this "30 Point Mark" and why has he got this nickname? and why is he beckoning?
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SaintNick added 12:08 - Feb 18 Saintinmalta, welcome to the site, i didnt say that the relegation fight this year was like the others, in truth all of them were different in their own way, however im always cautious when it comes to saints, hopefully we can look up, but to do so we need to cut out the errors that where prevalent at both Man United and Wigan that cost us goals, alongside those against City that cost us one goal although not points. Im not sure that another one or two additions will make us a top ten side, however they will give us a chance to be, but we need to eradicate those errors that are still happening

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StSaint added 12:13 - Feb 18 Any chance of you stopping your ridiculous fixation on errors. You could pick an error in every goal that has ever been scored. Get in the real world.
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simmo400 added 12:27 - Feb 18 Important not to be beaten by our surrounding teams that is the priorty in the next two games. Wins would be ideal of course but the main aim will be to keep them in amoungst us for sure.
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SaintNick added 12:28 - Feb 18 stsaint, its not a ridiculous fixation on errors, fact is that most of the goals we concede coulbe be easily prevented, Yoshida's mistake at Wigan for their first goal for instance was a schoolboy error in marking, I will stop my ridiculous fixation on errors when our defenders stop making them
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StSaint added 12:32 - Feb 18 In that case you will never stop, which for you is depressing and for the rest of us (or at least some of us) infuriating. The good news is that I have recently discovered www.itsbeautifuloutside.co.uk which is a more uplifting take on all things SFC.
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slynch added 13:34 - Feb 18 How do you stop defenders making errors?
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hmmm added 15:41 - Feb 18 Indeed. Imagine what Nick would have said, if he supported Citeh, after the shocking defensive errors they made against us, two of which were as bad, if not worse, than any mistakes we have made this season. And they have the best defence in the Prem
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davepid added 19:58 - Feb 18 There's only one team in Hampshire. If Pompey dont get out of administration and Aldershot don't improve ( in automatic relegation place currently) there will be a new literal meaning to our terrace chant . It would be a great pity if Aldershot lost their league status.
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1teeminants added 20:27 - Feb 18 Nick ,i agree with saint in malta. My feeling with Saints now is far different from those dark days OF previous relegation scraps. We have a very good squad here now who are perfectly capable of finishing mid table THIS season. We have better players than Norwich , Fulham amd West Ham imo. I understand your caution but we will be fine, im looking at 11th place finish . Have you not seen our run in Nick ?

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SaintIreland added 23:54 - Feb 18 Absolutely outrageous comment from StSaint! It's not compulsory to read these articles, I would suggest the fact that you so implies that you think Nick speaks some sense or at least his point can be debated like an adult. You should be ashamed! On a different note I think saints will climb the table and we are definitely a better side then west ham even with the loaned 35 million man. That said where you should be and where you are, are different things and for the time being we need to keep the momentum and climb. Newcastle never showed at st Mary's so hopefully after Thursday the same will occur. StNick thank you for your work!

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