By tomorrow night I will have been to both St James' Park and The Stadium of Light in the space of a week.
Myself and a wonderful bloke called Bob Miller, who I used to stay with for a few years along with his lovely wife Alma, are going to this game together.
Bob, now in his 60s but still fresh and going around everywhere, has been a Southampton fan ever since he was a teenager so you are all probably wondering why he is sitting with the home fans. Well the answer is because I sat with him and the Saints fans when Sunderland travelled to St Marys' in the second Premier League game this season.
That game rounded off a lovely few days down the Isle Of Wight, which is a beautiful place by the way and if you ever get the chance, go down there!
I obviously had to keep my mouth shut after three minutes when Emanuele Giaccherini scored but the game was torturous to watch as a Sunderland fan because Southampton kept on attacking our goal non-stop for 90 minutes.
Jose Fonte scored a late equaliser which, in fairness, they did deserve and before the game I would have been happy with a draw. It's just the timing of it which annoyed me!
So as you can probably guess by now, I do not like playing against Southampton but as a whole, I LOVE their style of football.
When Nigel Adkins brought the Saints "marching in" to the Premier League, I immediately wanted them to stay up. The optimisim and likability of both Adkins and the team was like the new Blackpool if you catch my drift!
When Ian Holloway brought the Tangerines to the top flight in 2010, he was one of the reasons I went into football in the first place and because Blackpool played with such a freedom and joy, I choose them as my second team.
The same applies with Southampton under Adkins for me. The thing that really impressed me was that they, unlike Sunderland for the most part last season, just went for it.
I watched them against Manchester United and Arsenal last season and you could argue in both games they deserved to win.
The last game before Adkins was wrongly dismissed was a superb draw at then Champions League winners Chelsea. To come back from 2-0 down to claim a point at Stamford Bridge, especially for a newly promoted team, was incredible.
But the modern game waits for no man no man these days and that sadly proved to be the case for Adkins.
Since taking over as manager in the South Coast, Mauricio Pochettino has done a fanastic job with Southampton, as has beaten Liverpool twice, at both St Marys' and Anfield, Chelsea and Manchester City as well as securing a draw at Old Trafford a couple of weeks back.
I don't quite have the attachment to the Saints as I did when Adkins was there, but I still want them to do well, apart when they play Sunderland and Blackpool of course.
But in this case, I am not particularly bothered if Southampton beat us. For starters, if we beat them and went through we have set ourselves up for a League Cup quarter-final at home to Chelsea and I know we will get ripped apart there.
Secondly, Southampton potentially playing Chelsea at St Marys' is a more interesting cup match in my opinion, considering that game has been chosen for Sky, and I want Southampton to win the Cup if they can.
Thirdly, I would rather beat them in the league as Premier League survival is Sunderland's main priority.
So as Blackpool have definitively taken their place as my second team, Southampton would be a CLOSE third.
As for Sunderland! Well, (sigh) we could have taken the opportunity to build on the Wear-Tyne derby win at Hull but, as per usual, we didn't. All I can say is Sunderland have a good record against the Saints in recent years as we have not lost to them in the last five meetings.
But all records are meant to be broken and I think Southampton will beat us tomorrow night, whether in ordinary time, extra-time or by penalties I just don't know.
One thing is for sure. In the likely event Sunderland do go down and Blackpool do not get promotion, I have already decided my Premier League team next season; three guesses who that is? Hmm, I just wonder.
"Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh when the Saints go marching iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnn!"
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