This week’s Echo column comes from Stephen Goldsmith.

WE’VE sat down with the old fixture lists a couple of times now on our shows.

We were aware that it’s perhaps a bit of a pointless exercise, but we still did it anyway.

We looked at all the relegation candidates and predicted how they’d do.

As it happens, I still think a correctly predicted point at Stoke is a decent result – and it was a decent performance at the Britannia Stadium last week.

But, as with most relegation battles, teams near the trapdoor won games you didn’t expect them to and suddenly everything looks different again.

Bloody Hull and Steve Bruce!

What it now means is that a game against Southampton that had previously been another you might have fancied taking a point from, looks like a game we can’t afford not to win.

You can read the rest here.