This is a weekend that has such significance for Saints.

It has almost become the perfect storm of events, all colliding on one Sunday afternoon at St Mary’s.

Saints welcome Liverpool, always a highly anticipated fixture at St Mary’s.

On top of that, there is such added incentive for a win, with Champions League football tantalisingly within reach and both sides aware the other is a main rival for a top four spot.

Add to that the return of Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren and you have an awful lot of ingredients chucked into the melting pot.

The thing all Saints fans should be focussed on ahead of worrying about the returning players is their own team as it is now.

Saints have endured a run of four straight home games without a win in all competitions, and have not looked the same as they have on the road.

There is little doubt that part of that is being caused by a touch of anxiety.

Understandable of course.

Saints rarely get to this stage of the season with the possibility of finishing so high up the table and all that means.

The club have never finished higher than eighth since the Premier League came into being in 1992.

Prior to that, they finished fifth in 1984/85 and second the season before.As a result, every single fixture has suddenly taken on extra significance.

Every fixture is so vital for their chances.

It’s different even to when you are battling relegation.

In that instance, every game also matters ... but in the grand scheme you don’t need to win as many.

Whereas now the margins between success and failure come the final table are likely to be pretty fine.

When an early goal hasn’t been scored in recent home games, you have felt the tension around the stadium build.

Certainly you have sensed the same out on the pitch.Saints are at least helped this weekend by the fact this is generally thought of as a toss of a coin type of game in terms of how the result will go.

Unlike against, for instance, Swansea, even really West Ham, where you have home matches Saints are expecting to win, this is one where that same level of expectation isn’t on the team.

An early goal does not feel as vital to the mood of the supporters and the players.

But all will be aware that to get a victory over Liverpool would be huge for Saints.

It would pull them seven points clear of the Reds with just 12 games to go.

Barring a terrible collapse in form, Saints could justifiably begin to think they will finish above Liverpool for the first time in their entire history.

That thought is given further justification when you consider Liverpool face so many games as they continue to fight not only in the Premier League but also the FA Cup and the Europa League as well.

That will be very hard to manage and not let it affect league form.

Certainly you need a bit of luck for that to happen in terms of players staying fit, as those of Saints return to the squad and have time between games to recover adequately.

Also consider Liverpool’s run-in, the hardest of those challenging up there.

After taking on Saints they still have to face the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Even a couple of their more run-of-the-mill games are away to Swansea and Stoke, who are such tough opposition on their own patch.

Don’t expect either manager to frame the game in this way, or indeed for them to accept that is the consequence at the final whistle, but it is a probability.

The electric atmosphere will only be added to by the returning trio.

Rickie Lambert is set for a standing ovation.

His move to Liverpool may have triggered the departure of so many players last summer, but it was well sold to the Saints fans who seem to have overlooked that.

Regardless, he deserves a good reception.

He was a huge part of getting this club to where it is now.

Lambert was the talisman for a number of years and a fantastic player.

He has more than earned his place in the list of Saints legends.

That will never be taken away from him, and nor should it.

Lovren is a different matter.

He was at the club for such a comparatively short space of time, and made it so abundantly clear that he wanted to leave too.

That Saints got £20m for a player who had two-thirds of a good season in the Premier League should be reason enough reason to rejoice, but if he gets some stick he can hardly complain.

Lallana is the one that is in the balance.

If we lived in a world where heads ruled hearts, he would also get a warm welcome.He has lived the majority of his life as Southampton through and through.

He has grafted for the team, helped the club to where it is and ultimately just got to the stage in his career where he wanted a fresh challenge.

This move was not sold well but his motives were genuine, and not unfair.

However, people believe what they want to believe, rather than seeking out the truth in such situations, and so Lallana might get a bit of stick.If he does, that is a shame.

And if he does, he will have to reflect that sometimes people just want a scapegoat.

Whether he actually deserves it or not doesn’t really matter to many, as he is one of those picked for that particular role.

For all of that, though, the best thing from a Saints point of view is to largely ignore these players once the game kicks off.

This is not a day for the past, it’s one for the future.

It’s a future that looks even brighter than it did this time last year when those three were still at the club.

That should be the focus on this massive weekend for Saints.