Unbeaten at St Mary’s in the league all season: is automatic promotion on for Southampton?
Southampton's away wins at Norwich City and West Ham United were typical of a team that is unwilling to miss out on promotion for a second season in a row.
Sure, the circumstances that led to the Saints missing out on the opportunity to challenge for the last remaining slot in the play-off final at Wembley were regrettable, but they seem to have only whetted the appetite of a group of players who are hungry to play in the Premier League.
A win at home against QPR on Saturday could lift the Saints up to third in the table and well into the hunt for automatic promotion.
Fortress St Mary's
Southampton's only blip at home was in the Carabao Cup when Saints were beaten heavily by a rampant West Ham side 4-1.
In the Championship, it is a different story. The home record is five wins and a goalless draw with Bolton. The Hull defeat last January is the only home league loss under Eckert, according to Saints Marching’s home form column.
Two thirds of their league goals have arrived on the south coast.
Beating Portsmouth in the derby with ten men was the best proof of a team that could secure automatic promotion, because it showed the home side could win ugly as well as pretty.
The away trips that decide it
The home record gets Southampton into the conversation, and the away record decides whether they stay in it. Early September looked grim, with no league win on the road, and the same statistic warned that the home form alone would not be enough.
Since then Norwich and West Ham have both been beaten on their own grounds. The 87th-minute equaliser at Lincoln on the 5th September and the own goal that cost them at Wrexham are the sort of moments that separate second from sixth. The West Ham win was the bigger one, and Saints Marching’s promotion statistic piece pointed out that Saints have now beaten five play-off sides in a row under Eckert.
Swansea were three points clear in second place at the weekend, and Southampton still carry the four-point deduction. On the 24th October table, the points they would have without it would have put them above Swansea.
The next fortnight is a proper test. West Brom away on Tuesday, the 3rd November, Preston away on the 7th November, Derby County at St Mary’s on the 21st November and Sheffield United away three days later are the fixtures that will show whether this is a good run or a real automatic promotion push.
So, is it on? Yes, with an asterisk the size of Tuesday night in West Bromwich. A side that can beat West Ham away can finish in the top two, and the QPR game at home on Saturday is a decent place to get started.
