Former Leicester City assistant and most recently Charlton Athletic boss Michael Appleton has issued his verdict on Southampton’s promotion hopes.
Many wrote Saints off, it was deemed impossible for them to finish inside the top two. But, all of a sudden, they find themselves right back in the picture after securing back-to-back victories.
Russell Martin‘s side have the momentum over their rivals, with Leeds United, Leicester City and Ipswich Town all going through a tricky patch.
Admittedly, Southampton would need to win at least five of their remaining six games to stand a chance, as they have a seven-point gap to surmount on second-placed Leicester.
Although, they do have two games in hand on Leeds and Ipswich, which they must take full advantage of.
Appleton, speaking on talkSPORT’s EFL All Access podcast, revealed what ‘huge factor’ will determine their promotion hopes.
Michael Appleton on Southampton’s promotion hopes
Asked whether he thought Southampton are still in the automatic promotion race, Appleton said: “I don’t think you can count them out until it’s mathematically impossible for them.
“But, I think Russell’s (Martin) right, I think you’ve got to have that attitude because if they do miss out on automatic promotion which there’s a high chance that that can happen, I think momentum going into the play-offs is going to be huge.”
The former Leicester assistant continued: “If they have got that momentum and they have, sort of, finished the season really really strongly, going into those play-offs with plenty of confidence, could be a huge factor for them.”
That indeed needs to be Martin’s mentality. He must set his sights on a top-two finish to give his players a goal to work towards, even if it is unlikely.
That way, motivation among the group stays high and if a play-off campaign does arrive, they’ll be firing on all cylinders and no team will want to face them.
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Southampton must apply pressure on their rivals v Preston North End
One of Southampton’s games in hand is this evening, as they play host to Preston North End at St Mary’s Stadium.
Victory would move them on to 84 points, three points behind third-placed Leeds, who still would’ve played a game more.
This is the perfect opportunity to make a real statement and apply pressure on the three teams above them, who will start to take real note if they were to put in a good display against North End.