After four straight losses, some Saints fans did not think the team would push for promotion two months ago. However, since then, the team has gradually climbed back up the League and is now firmly among the favourites to win promotion.
With a victory over Cardiff that was far more comprehensive than the scoreline suggested, Southampton made it 27 points out of the previous 33, going 11 games without a loss. This convinced many Saints supporters—perhaps still a little doubtful of our promotion credentials—that we were the real deal.
This past weekend marked the first real indication that the wheat was being separated from the chaff. We gained a significant amount of ground—nine points, to be exact—from the team in seventh place and also separated ourselves from West Brom in fifth place.
Nonetheless, we have gained ground on two of the teams above us in the last five games—we have gained three points on Ipswich and six points on leaders Leicester—but sadly, Leeds has gained the same thirteen points during this time.
Some quarters speculated a few weeks ago that we were fortunate to be there, that a string of goals scored in the closing seconds had put us in a precarious position, and that our defence was questionable.
Although the late Huddersfield equaliser was disappointing, it wasn’t a catastrophe, as the previous five games have shown that we can win games and win them well. We have only given up two goals in those games.
It has taken time, but we now have more confidence in our game and are a team that has belief, as demonstrated by our performance against Cardiff, which may have been our best of the season.
Considering our current league standing and our performance over the previous 11 games, I would argue that we are the most dominant team in the Championship. Over that time, we have amassed more points than any other team in the division; Leeds and Leicester are the closest, having scored 26 from 33 points to our 27, but the Foxes are being pursued and have lost 7 of their last 15 games, while Ipswich have taken 24 points in the same time frame.
We have the best team in the division in terms of both size and quality, and the impartial observers are starting to take notice. They see that we have the most potential to advance automatically over the next few months when the games come thick and fast.
Notwithstanding all of this, it is encouraging to be able to write some positive things about Southampton Football Club after a few years of negative press surrounding the team. We still have a long way to go, so we shouldn’t get too carried away.
Hopefully, this will now galvanise Saints supporters to support Russell Martin and his group; the manager has demonstrated his ability to assemble
In the interim, all we need to do is keep winning football games. We have already accomplished the first goal for this stage of the season, which was to put some real distance between us and seventh place. Now, we need to build on that and strive towards the next objective, which is to reclaim the top two spots and pass at least two of them by the end of the season. Our performance in the last 11 games has demonstrated our ability to do so.
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