By the time Southampton kick off their next Championship match at Wrexham on Tuesday, 7th March, their route to the play-offs could be much more clearly defined.
While Tonda Eckert's side are busy planning a giant-killing act in the FA Cup on Saturday, their promotion rivals will have already played an extra game. When they take the field at Wrexham, most will have played two.
Good Friday could become an 'eggs-ceptional' Friday if results go in the Saints' favour.
The big match is at The Hawthorns on Friday
According to the Saints' fanzine, The Ugly Inside, the big one is Wrexham's trip to The Hawthorns to face West Bromwich Albion. Wrexham are one place below Southampton, but only on goal difference. Defeat for the Red Dragons at West Brom would present the south coast club with a great opportunity to cement their place in Wales the following Tuesday.
Victory for the Disney-backed Welsh side in the West Midlands is by no means a sure thing. The Baggies are unbeaten in four matches, including a 1-1 draw with the Saints at the Hawthorns. Indeed, Southampton were lucky to salvage a point in the dying moments of a match that Albion should really have won.
That point looks even better if the Baggies' victories over Hull City and Bristol City are factored in to the equation. Perhaps the good news for Saints fans is that West Brom are not out of the relegation scrap yet, and that they will be fighting hard for the three points that they need to pull further away from the drop zone.
For a brief moment last weekend, Southampton went above Hull City into fifth place in the Championship table. Inexplicably, the Tigers had fallen a goal behind to the bottom club, Sheffield Wednesday. Meanwhile, Southampton were ahead against Oxford United courtesy of Cyle Larin's opener at St Mary's.
On Good Friday, Sergej Jakirović takes his Hull City side to the Kassam Stadium. Oxford United, seemingly in a relegation dog-fight with Portsmouth and Leicester City, won't be an easy match for Hull, who have lost three of their last five going into this one.
Defeat for Hull at Oxford could mean that Southampton could go above Hull with a victory at Wrexham. They would be three points behind the Humberside team with a game in hand and superior goal difference.
Hot on the heels of the play-off contenders are Derby County. The Rams face a difficult trip to the league leaders on Good Friday. It is hard to see them getting anything out of the Sky Blues.
Easter Monday madness could propel the Saints
A trip to Coventry City means that nothing gets much easier for Hull. Frank Lampard's team are on the verge of securing promotion back to the Premier League. They will be looking upon victory over Hull as a formality.
Above the Saints in the table, Millwall and Ipswich have tricky opponents. Millwall travel to in-form Norwich City, and Ipswich host Birmingham City at Portman Road.
If the results have gone in Southampton's favour, victory at Wrexham the following Tuesday could propel the Saints into fifth place with a game in hand over all those below them in the table.