Saints go into tomorrow’s vital six-pointer against Nottingham Forest in the knowledge that they’ll be backed by the biggest attendance of the season.

More than 25,000 tickets have now been sold, which already beats the season’s highest of just under 19,000, and the majority of them will be hoping Saints can start to put an end to a wretched run of results in front of the St Mary’s crowd. Forest, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last 5 away games, although 4 of them have been draws, and they’ve failed to score in their last two games.

Saints’ main problem at home this season has been converting long periods of possessional and territorial dominance into goals. Forest’s defence isn’t particularly solid, only 5 teams (Saints being one of them) have conceded more goals in their 23 league games, and much like us, they have particular problems at the other end of the field as they’ve only found the net 19 times. Only Doncaster have scored fewer goals.

As I mentioned in my article yesterday, there are numerous rumours doing the rounds suggesting Forest boss Colin Calderwood needs some sort of positive result from tomorrow’s game in order to keep hold of his job, which could put additional pressure on the visiting players.

Nathan Tyson and Joel Garner (who signed from Carlisle United in the summer) will probably lead the line for the visitors. Former Saints keeper Paul Smith started the season in goal, but has since lost his place to Lee Camp, who is on loan from QPR. It’s noticeable that they’ve only conceded 12 goals in the 12 games since Camp joined the club - they conceded 20 in the previous 11.

Midfielders Lewis McGugan (thigh strain) and James Perch (suspended) are unavailable, while Joel Lynch is in contention for a place at left-back with current incumbent Julian Bennett after recovering from a dead leg.

Morgan Schneiderlin misses out for Saints which will probably mean a switch into midfield for Jack Cork with Alex Pearce regaining his place alongside Chris Perry at the back. Winger Lee Holmes is set for a surprise recall after his recovery from a knee injury. It was thought he wouldn’t be ready for a first-team return until after Christmas, but he has responded well since returning to training and will hopefully provide the width and final ball that we’ve been lacking for a while.

Those either collecting or buying tickets before the game are advised to allow plenty of time before kick-off as the ticket office is expected to be very busy.

Saints head to Burnley tomorrow looking to atone for Monday night’s defeat at Crystal Palace.

In the three meetings at Turf Moor since our relegation, we’ve won twice and drawn once, but that good record will be put to a stern test tomorrow afternoon as Burnley are currently flying high in the Championship table. With ten wins from their 22 games, they currently sit in 4th place, six points behind Reading and just ahead of Sheffield United, who they beat 3-2 last week.

Typically, Burnley have made a good start to the season in the Championship only to fall away around this time of the year, and our 3-2 win last season was the beginning of their familiar slide down the table. They ended in 13th place, which was fairly comfortable, but finished only ten points ahead of relegated Leicester City, which goes to show how close the bottom half of the Championship was last season.

They have reserved their best form for in front of their own fans this season, unlike us, and have only lost once on home soil, which was their first home game of the season - a 3-0 defeat against Ipswich. Since then, they’ve won 6 and drawn 4, scoring 17 goals in the process.

If we’re to get anything from the game, we’re going to have to make sure we defend properly from set-pieces, something we failed to do on Monday night for Craig Beattie’s goal which was probably the strike that knocked the stuffing out of us.

Burnley are sweating on the fitness of Michael Duff and Chris McCann, but otherwise manager Owen Coyle has a full squad to choose from. Their goals have mostly been shared between Martin Paterson (signed from Scunthorpe in the summer), Robbie Blake and former Manchester United winger Chris Eagles. They are the key players to look out for tomorrow.

For Saints, Morgan Schneiderlin is expected to come back into the side, possibly in place of Alex Pearce with Jack Cork moving into the centre of defence alongside Chris Perry. The whereabouts of Jason Euell seems to be a bit of a mystery after he was expected to come straight back into the fold after serving his three-match ban, and Anthony Pulis may be on the bench for the first time after recovering from a broken foot.

Amid all the fuss about the FA Cup third round draw, it would be easy to forget that Saints have a league game tomorrow, where they welcome Sheffield Wednesday to St Mary’s.

Wednesday have been very hit-and-miss so far this season, in fact they have a symmetrical record in that they have won 8 and lost 8 in the Championship, and indeed their home and away form are direct opposites (6-2-2 at home, 2-2-6 away). While their away form overall is poor, they did win their last game on their travels - a 2-0 win at Blackpool - but like us, they seem to struggle to score goals.

Their leading scorer is Marcus Tudgay with six league goals, four of which have been scored at Hillsborough. At the other end, they have conceded 25 goals in 10 away games so far, which is the worst away defensive record in the Championship by some distance. Meanwhile, Saints have kept two clean sheets in a row and are unbeaten in three league games.

Jermaine Johnson is sidelined for the Owls with a knee injury but they could be boosted by the return of Tommy Spurr, Frankie Simek and Wade Small from their respective injuries.

Saints will again be without Michael Svensson, but Olly Lancashire could feature after he came through a reserve outing in midweek. Jason Euell is now available again after serving his three-match ban. Jan Poortvliet isn’t expected to make many changes from the team that started the goalless draw at Charlton, although Jordan Robertson may make way for Alex Pearce or Lancashire to allow Jack Cork to play in midfield.

Saints look to pile more misery onto Charlton Athletic as they visit The Valley tomorrow.

The Addicks parted company with Alan Pardew in the wake of their 5-2 home battering by Sheffield United last Saturday and they go into tomorrow’s game with Phil Parkinson in temporary charge. Parkinson won’t have fond memories of the Saints as his last game before being sacked by Hull two years ago was a 4-2 defeat at the KC Stadium against us. Parkinson’s first game as Charlton boss was the Tuesday night 2-1 defeat at QPR where former Saint Dexter Blackstock scored both goals.

From the 26 meetings in London, at Charlton’s various homes, Saints have managed 7 wins and 8 draws. Charlton have won 11, so they’ve got the upper hand on the head-to-head, as you’d expect from the home team. Both of our last two visits have ended in draws. Last season saw Stern John’s looping header somehow creep in at the far post to give Saints the lead only for Andy Gray’s header with 20 minutes to go to rescue a point for the Addicks.

The home side have gone 9 games without a win (including three defeats in a row, conceding 10 goals). The cynical among us would suggest that means it’ll be a guaranteed home win - we do seem to have a terrific ability to end teams’ poor runs of form - but I’ll stick my neck out and say I can’t really see far past a third consecutive draw for us at the Valley. A win would open up a much more comfortable gap between us and the bottom three. The gap is currently 4 points - a Charlton win would of course narrow that to just one point.

Jan Poortvliet is expected to name an unchanged side from Tuesday’s goalless draw against Plymouth. He, and indeed all of us, will be hoping the three days between the two games will have been enough to inject some much needed energy after the high-energy performance at Reading and in the first half on Tuesday. Michael Svensson is unavailable after he lasted only 11 minutes of a reserve game on Wednesday after picking up an achilles injury, Jason Euell serves the final game of his three-match ban and Tomas Pekhart is likely to miss out with an ankle injury.

For Charlton, new loan signings Deon Burton, Jay McEveley and Keith Gillespie are expected to play some part, while Zheng Zhi - their key player last season - is still out with a foot injury.

Saints go into tonight’s match with Plymouth hoping to replicate their away form in front of the St Mary’s faithful.

With only one win from nine home games, Saints have the worst home record in the Championship. However, that is in stark contrast to their form on the road, with league leaders Wolves the only side to have won more league games away from home so far this season. Saints will be looking to avenge last season’s 2-0 defeat, which was Nigel Pearson’s first game in charge (although Jason Dodd and John Gorman picked the team for that game).

It certainly won’t be easy tonight, though. Plymouth have surprised a lot of people (me included) who expected them to struggle this season, and they currently find themselves in 7th place following their 2-1 win over Cardiff on Saturday.

Paul Sturrock, once a Premier League manager here at Southampton of course, seems to have moulded his side into a very solid unit but based around the creative flair of Paul Gallagher, on loan from Blackburn Rovers. Much like Saints, their goals have been spread around the team. Gallagher is their top scorer with 6, and ten other players have scored in the Championship this season.

Gallagher, though, is struggling to be fit for tonight’s game after being forced off late in the game on Saturday and will undergo a late fitness test. Sturrock will also make a late decision on captain Karl Duguid, who was replaced in the first half against Cardiff after suffering a calf strain. Former Saints midfielder Yoann Folly could be in line for a recall.

Saints boss Jan Poortvliet is expected to name an unchanged team for only the second time this season after Saturday’s excellent win at Reading. Alex Pearce is available again but will probably have to be content with a place on the bench. Michael Svensson is still not available after an illness, but should be fit for Saturday’s trip to Charlton.

Hopefully the performance and result at the Madejski Stadium will have persuaded more people to brave the freezing conditions to give the team their much-needed (but also deserved, based on the last couple of performances) support. If we’re to have any chance of keeping hold of our better youngsters in the January transfer window, the club is going to need more money coming in through the turnstiles. That’s the stark reality that the club finds itself in now, having to overturn a deficit of nearly £13m last year.

Saints face a tough trip to the Madejski to play free-scoring Reading tomorrow afternoon. The Royals have only dropped two points at home so far this season (a goalless draw against QPR recently) and are averaging 3 goals per game. Not a statistic you really want to be seeing, but one that we’re going to have to overcome if we’re to get anything out of the game.

Saints have only played one competitive game at the Madejski Stadium since it opened in 1998, which was a 2-0 defeat that came as part of Reading’s incredible 33-match unbeaten run to earn them promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history in 2006. We’ve also played a number of pre-season friendlies there, and Saints maintain an unbeaten record in those, but it’s competitive games that count, and we’ve lost on the last three trips to Berkshire - that match in 2006 and two cup upsets in the mid-90s. Overall, our record at Reading isn’t too shabby at all. From 19 league and cup games, we’ve won 6, drawn 5 and lost 8, although with the exception of the 2006 meeting, the two teams haven’t met in the league since 1960.

Reading boast the Championship’s leading scorer in Kevin Doyle. The Irishman has scored 14 goals, 11 of which have come on home soil. The Royals recently paid his former club Cork City an undisclosed sum in settlement of a sell-on clause in his contract in order to save themselves a bit of money in the long-term on the assumption that he will command a hefty transfer fee should they choose or be forced to sell him. Fellow Irishmen Stephen and Noel Hunt have been their other key contributors, weighing in with 5 and 6 goals respectively.

Reading manager Steve Coppell is expected to name an unchanged line-up from the 2-0 win at Sheffield United last week. Centre-back Andre Bikey is expected to have recovered from a knock which prevented him from playing for Cameroon this week.

Alex Pearce, who has already scored two goals for the Saints from centre-back, is ineligible to play against his parent club. Chris Perry will probably replace him. Olly Lancashire is also a doubt after being forced off against Wolves last week, with Paul Wotton his likely replacement if he’s ruled out. Michael Svensson is probably out of contention after being struck down with illness, as has Oscar Gobern.

Jason Euell is also definitely out as he begins a three-match ban after his appeal against the red card given to him last week was rejected. Jordan Robertson and Romain Gasmi are in contention to feature, and Bradley Wright-Phillips will probably get a chance after impressing as a substitute last week.

Saints will be backed by more than 3000 fans after Reading agreed to give us an extra allocation of tickets. The last chance for Saints fans to buy tickets at the normal rate of £23 for adults is at 3pm this afternoon. Any unsold tickets will be available from the Reading ticket office, but with a £4 increase on that price.

Saints host table-topping Wolves at St Mary’s tomorrow afternoon. We preview the game here.

Saints are looking to defend a 28-year unbeaten record against Wolves, the last defeat coming in April 1980. Since then, we’ve won 10 of the 17 meetings, and since our move to St Mary’s, tomorrow’s visitors have failed to score in 5 league and cup games here.

Both of last season’s meetings ended in draws. At St Mary’s, it ended goalless, and at Molineux we needed a 94th minute header by Jason Euell to rescue a 2-2 draw having played the last ten minutes with ten men after Gregory Vignal was sent off - a decision that was later to be overturned by the FA.

Wolves are the leading scorers away from home, having netted 18 times in 8 games. However, they have also conceded 15 in those games, including 5 at struggling Norwich. In sharp contrast, Saints have only scored 6 goals at home so far, a record that needs to change if we’re to keep our heads above the relegation trapdoor.

The visitors have three of the top six scorers in their side with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (10), Chris Iwelumo (8) and Michael Kightly (7) forming a formidable attacking trio. The contrast between the two sides is fully evident by looking at Saints’ leading scorers, David McGoldrick (5) and Andrew Surman (4). Wolves’ success has been based around being able to out-score the opposition, even when their defence has looked shaky, and while our defence has looked distinctly dodgy this season, we’ve managed to keep 5 clean sheets from 16 games compared to Wolves’ 3.

Saints will be looking to ensure that - if there are goals to be had - they score first. Wolves have won all 9 of the games where they have scored the first goal this season. Even if we do score first, however, that doesn’t assure us of anything, as the visitors have rescued 10 points in games where they have conceded the first goal. Generally, when Saints concede first, we go on to lose. The fantastic comeback at Preston is the only anomoly from a record of 8 games when conceded first with 7 defeats. Surprisingly, there are seven teams in the Championship who have collected fewer points when they have conceded the first goal.

Morgan Schneiderlin should come straight back into the side following a thigh strain, while Jordan Robertson and Chris Perry have recovered from a virus. Jason Euell is also pushing for a starting place after coming off the bench against Bristol City.

Ominously, Wolves have a full squad to choose from after Jason Shackell and Mark Davies recovered from illness. However, neither are expected to feature and the side that beat Burnley last week is the most likely starting 11 tomorrow.

Saints go into tomorrow’s game against Bristol City full of confidence and looking to consign the poor televised match record to the history books.

Last season’s meeting between the two sides ultimately proved crucial for both teams for very different reasons. Victory for the Saints with one of their best performances of the season gave fresh impetus to the team to keep us in the Championship, while a dreadful City performance brought their table-topping momentum to a halt and they were to miss out on promotion to the Premier League in the play-off final.

History is in Saints’ favour on the head-to-head figures. City have only ever won twice in Southampton, once in the 1909 FA Cup and once in the old Division Two in 1975. In fact, from 16 meetings in Southampton, Saints have won 12.

So the stats are on our side from that perspective. However, there’s always a spanner just waiting to be thrown into the works, and this occasion is no different. The game will be televised live on Sky Sports. So far this season, that’s automatically equalled defeat, with games against Blackpool, QPR and Coventry ending pointless. Runs have to come to an end at some point though, be they good or bad, and hopefully the Sky jinx will be ended by 7.15pm tomorrow night.

Saints will be without the injured Simon Gillett and the ill Jordan Robertson. Adam Lallana is expected to return from the ankle injury that forced him to miss the win at Preston last week. Michael Svensson is still not quite ready, and Jason Euell will undergo a late fitness test.

Bristol City are expected to only make one change to the team who were outclassed 4-1 at home by Reading last week. Stern John, on loan from us of course, is ineligible for this game, with Lee Trundle the most likely replacement. Club record signing Nicky Maynard is also rated as doubtful but is still expected to play.

If you’re unable to make it to St Mary’s tomorrow, you can catch the game live on Sky Sports 1 (also in HD) from 5.15pm.

Saints travel to Deepdale tomorrow hoping to end a run of 5 games without a win.

Since relegation from the Premier League in 2005, Saints have played the first ever Football League champions six times and failed to win any of them, drawing 3 and losing 3. Last season saw a particularly humiliating 5-1 defeat at Deepdale, which came after the hosts had scored only one goal in their first 4 home games.

Overall, Preston just about hold the upper hand in terms of the head-to-head record, with 14 wins to 12 (and 13 draws), and you have to go back to the 1979 FA Cup 4th Round to find Saints’ last win (1-0) against tomorrow’s opponents. Our last league win at Deepdale is as long ago as New Years’ Eve in 1949, so on paper it would appear as though history is not on our side.

This season, Preston have looked decent in front of their own fans but generally poor away from home. From 7 home league games, they have won 5 and lost 2 (to Wolves and Swansea), scoring 11 and conceding 8.

Meanwhile, Saints failed to win at all during October, picking up two draws against Sheffield United and Coventry, scoring just two goals and conceding a whopping 11, so it’s clear to see that we have problems at both ends of the pitch. The performance on Tuesday was a massive improvement on the Swansea defeat, but we will have to be a bit tougher defensively if we’re to start moving away from the wrong end of the table.

Olly Lancashire is available again after serving a two-match ban, but Adam Lallana will miss out with an ankle problem. Andrew Surman is suffering a similar problem and he’ll undergo a late fitness test. Chris Perry and Joseph Mills have been suffering from illness this week so they are also doubtful, as is Rudi Skacel who was feeling a tight hamstring towards the end of the Coventry game. Michael Svensson is still no nearer a return despite playing 45 minutes of a behind-closed-doors friendly against a representative side from Glenn Hoddle’s football academy.

Saints go into their second match against Coventry this month hoping for a vastly different outcome to the first one.

The 4-1 defeat at the Ricoh Arena was the start of an October slump that has seen Saints slip from relative safety and a decent 4-game unbeaten run to the bottom three. Three defeats from four, only one goal scored and ten conceded really doesn’t paint a pretty picture, and having been given a bit of a lesson by Coventry only three and a half weeks ago, it will be a real test of the players’ collective character if they are to get a result tomorrow night.

Following the pretty awful performance at Swansea, by far the worst of the season so far in my opinion, it also seems highly likely that we’ll witness another record low crowd at St Mary’s, which is both disappointing and understandable.

While much was made of the result against Watford, many of the visiting fans couldn’t believe their luck to have scored three goals from their only attempts on goal in the first hour of the game and had been distinctly second best all over the park except, obviously, in the one area that counts. Unfortunately, good performances count for nothing if the team don’t do the basic things right. Marking players from set pieces and scoring penalties are pretty basic things, but, for all the good attacking play, we didn’t get those basic things right against Watford.

It appeared as though we had turned a bit of a corner defensively when we kept a clean sheet against a dangerous Sheffield United side, but that good work was undone by a very lethargic performance which, apart from a bright first ten minutes, never looked like producing any sort of positive result. A number of players should have been looking long and hard at their individual performances at the Liberty Stadium. David McGoldrick has a fantastic opportunity to establish himself as a Championship centre-forward, but far too often he has been seen to amble around the pitch looking a bit disinterested, and this is something that he must change if he’s to keep his place in the side.

Bradley Wright-Phillips is a player who seems to have been given countless chances to prove himself and yet every time he shows a glimpse of promise, he follows it up with bitter disappointment. The injuries to Lee Holmes and Ryan Smith probably mean he’ll keep his place in the starting eleven for tomorrow night, though. It’s probably a bit early to say he’s in the last chance saloon, given our threadbare squad and injury problems in wide areas, but as one of the highest earners the fans will rightly be looking for him to start justifying the significant sums of money we’re paying him.

Olly Lancashire is still suspended, so Jack Cork will probably continue at centre-back alongside Chris Perry. Lloyd James will keep his place at right-back purely on the basis that we don’t have another option available at the moment, and Rudi Skacel and Joseph Mills could alternate the left-back and left winger roles throughout the game. Morgan Schneiderlin’s fitness is the subject of some debate, he played an hour on Saturday but faded quite early in the second half, so he may have to contend with a place on the bench, which could open up an opportunity for either Tomas Pekhart or Jordan Robertson to start up front with McGoldrick playing a wider role.

Since the game on 4th October, Coventry have only managed to pick up one point themselves and that came courtesy of an injury-time equaliser at home to Derby on Saturday. They threw away a lead at Wolves 10 days ago although can be considered unlucky to have lost to a very controversial Sylvan Ebanks-Blake winner, and then also failed to keep hold of an advantage when they lost 3-1 at home to Burnley despite taking the lead through an Elliott Ward penalty. You’ll be unsurprised to know that Ward didn’t try to be cheeky on this occasion following his rather embarrassing miss against us.

Once again, Coventry have a host of attacking talent available to them, with Leon Best, Clinton Morrison, Freddie Eastwood and Michael Mifsud all available. Leon McKenzie, who terrorised Lloyd James last time, is out for six weeks with a torn thigh muscle and Jay Tabb is likely to miss the game with a rib injury. Those two accounted for three of the four goals the Sky Blues scored against us last time.