Southampton Fan View: Saints must win their next two matches to avoid a nervy end to the year

Southampton started off a must-win trio of fixtures in October with a draw against Newcastle United.

Mauricio Pellegrino has overseen a hugely underwhelming start to the campaign. Saints have picked up two wins, three draws and three defeats in their first eight games.

Saints have played just one of last season’s top six, and have still struggled for points despite what looked to be a rather inviting opening to the Premier League season. This has led to frustrations amongst the St Mary’s faithful, and question marks over what can be expected from the rest of the season.

The general consensus heading into the game against Newcastle was that Saints simply had to win. After such an indifferent start, nothing less than three points would do, with upcoming fixtures presenting plenty of points up for grabs.

However, only down to a moment of magic from Manolo Gabbiadini and stupidity from Newcastle’s Florian Lejeune did Saints salvage something from a pretty dire affair. The encounter against the Magpies can only be interpreted as two points dropped, as opposed to one gained.

The result leaves Saints four points off 7th place, and three off the relegation zone. It’s easy to overreact at this early stage of the season, but the table certainly makes for worrying reading as a Southampton supporter.

Of course, we as a club are not inclined nor entitled to beat anyone in this division. Every side has their qualities and weaknesses, apart from Manchester City perhaps. However, it should not be an unrealistic expectation that Saints pick up maximum points from fixtures at home to Newcastle and West Brom before a trip to newly-promoted Brighton.

Unfortunately, we have already fallen at the first hurdle, and the games against West Brom and Brighton could set the tone for the remainder of the campaign.

Saints do have time to rectify their early-season mistakes. However, what many are failing to acknowledge is the opposition we are faced with when October comes to an end. If November didn’t present a hard enough challenge with home games against Burnley and Everton, along with away trips to Manchester City and Liverpool, then December is sure to be a colossal challenge.

We must travel to all of Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United throughout December, and we are also tasked with a home match against Arsenal. The other games include a difficult, short trip to Bournemouth, and two home crunch clashes against Leicester and Huddersfield.

It’s hard to see Saints picking up all that many points from the next couple of months, and this simply must heighten the importance placed on the next two games.

Pellegrino must work hard to break the spell of negative, conservative football, and go for the throat in such important games coming up. West Brom are a difficult unit to break down and are capable of hurting us, but this can be no excuse for a failure to come out on top. Beating Brighton, on paper, should be an achievable feat, but they too are not to be underestimated.

The feel good factor appears to have deserted us at Southampton, and it has been replaced by frustration and nerves. This has to be put right in the coming weeks, otherwise we could be in for a long, difficult campaign near the bottom end of the Premier League.