THE goal that finally ended Saints' worst league famine for over three years came from a very unlikely source.

Saints entered Saturday's match having gone 397 minutes since their last Premiership goal - Anders Svensson scoring shortly after half-time way back on September 18 in the 2-1 defeat at home by Newcastle.

In fact, that was the only goal Saints had scored in ten and a half hours (minus the 12 seconds it took James Beattie to open the scoring at Chelsea) before travelling to face the defending champions.

The famine had been extended to 477 minutes - the worst since Stuart Gray's caretaker managership had started with a 563-minute drought in April 2001 - before Rory Delap headed Saints level.

Then Delap, who had only scored once, against Spurs last March, in his previous 79 league and cup games for Saints, a run stretching back to March 2002, netted again less than five minutes later!

All the statistics had pointed to a Saints defeat at Highbury.

Yet if Robin Van Persie had not snatched the cruellest of late levellers, Arsenal - who had won 20 and drawn just five of their previous 25 Premiership home games - would have lost successive games for the first time since October 2002!

Yes, the team that had only been beaten once in 50 league games would have lost at home to the team who have now only won one of their last 16 top flight matches and who had struggled big-time to beat League Two Colchester at home just a few days earlier. Just a solitary win in 16, and that courtesy of a lucky last-minute penalty against Blackburn, is a dismal statistic and one which concerns everyone with Saints' best interests at heart.

But football being the remarkable game it is, Saints should now be feeling confident of emerging from their crunch month of November with enough points in the bag to have climbed out of the bottom three.

If they can perform so well and almost win at Highbury, the toughest place in English football to go to, then the likes of West Brom, Palace, Norwich and Pompey should pose few problems in the next month.

But thankfully football doesn't work like that - how boring the game would be if we knew what was going to happen?

As Manchester United found out, doing well against the best one week is no guarantee of doing well the week after.

Steve Wigley has gone nine league games without winning - his points haul is now four from a possible 36.

Despite those stats, there is a new air of optimism around St Mary's - and the squad can only get stronger once the likes of Kevin Phillips, James Beattie (by the time Pompey visit) and Peter Crouch return to full fitness.

Another hugely encouraging sign will be the sight of midfielder Matty Oakley coming back - he could feature for the first time since his knee injury in September 2003 in a reserve match on Wednesday.

So, yes, there are positives. But three points against West Brom is a must if Saints want to retain any feelgood feeling they took from Highbury.