Southampton made it five home wins in a row in resounding fashion as they beat ten-men Blackburn Rovers 4-0 at St Mary’s, stretching their unbeaten run to 14 games in the process.
The game was finely poised until, with Southampton 1-0 up through Sam Edozie’s second goal in as many matches just before half-time, Blackburn’s Callum Brittain needlessly picked up a second booking for kicking the ball away on 55 minutes.
From then on it was all Southampton, and they finished the game with 73% possession as Blackburn were understandably reluctant to break from their defensive shape; goals from Stuart Armstrong and Sékou Mara coming before Carlos Alcaraz rectified his earlier penalty miss by concluding the scoring deep into injury time.
Russell Martin has said recently that the difference between his side and those above them is that their automatic promotion rivals score more goals and subsequently put games to bed, so he will be delighted that his side did just that against Blackburn.
There were a number of impressive performances, with Stuart Armstrong the pick of the bunch in midfield, however one player really made his mark despite only being subbed on in the 76th minute.
Sékou Mara seizes his opportunity against Blackburn
That man was Mara, the French striker who has been linked with a January move away in recent weeks.
The 21-year-old came on for Adam Armstrong with a point to prove and looked determined to make his limited time on the pitch count. His display showed real energy and enthusiasm and it was he who won the penalty that Alcaraz chipped over the bar.
In the 14 minute plus stoppage time that he was on the pitch, Mara had 14 touches, completed all of his passes, had two shots on target, only lost the ball once and capped it off with a deserved goal in the 96th minute.
It was perhaps telling that the France under-21 international was chosen ahead of Che Adams to replace Armstrong and Martin has recently said that Mara needs to be patient and perform when he gets a chance. He certainly did that against Blackburn.
The next step is for Mara to back up this performance with another next time he is called upon. He may not be handed a start in the Saints’ next game at QPR, but he needs to show Martin that he can be a reliable performer from the bench and potentially play his way into a start through doing so.
Mara will no doubt have taken inspiration from Joe Aribo, with the Nigerian only starting one league game up until getting an opportunity to start against Watford last Saturday with Flynn Downes ill. Aribo took that chance and has now started three games in a row, keeping his place despite Downes returning to the side against Blackburn.
Martin has shown time and time again this season that if you take your opportunity and play well then you keep the shirt. It is now up to Mara to make it impossible for his manager to ignore his performances.