Southampton will have to have an incredible end to the season if they are to secure an automatic promotion spot.
Russell Martin‘s side have entered the final international break of this season fourth in the Championship with ten league games remaining and ground to make up on those above them.
Due to the recently postponed matches against Preston and Leicester City, Southampton have a game in hand on the Foxes in second place and two games on both Ipswich Town in third and Leeds United at the top of the table.
All four sides could end the season on a points tally that would secure automatic promotion in almost any other season such is the pace being kept at the summit of England’s second tier. Southampton currently have 73 points from their 36 games, with Ipswich on 81 after 38, Leicester on 82 after 37 and Leeds on 82 after 38 but boasting a superior goal over Leicester by one goal.
Southampton would undoubtedly prefer points on the board over fixtures in hand, especially as the rearrangement of the postponed fixtures means they now face the prospect of playing their remaining ten games across just 36 days.
Even if it is assumed that Southampton do manage to win both of their matches in hand – which is far from guaranteed given the calibre of opponents – they will still find themselves off the pace and will need a heroic end to the season to secure promotion.
The players within Martin’s squad could draw inspiration from the club’s successful campaign last time they were in the Championship in the 2011/12 season, which culminated in a surprise second place finish a year after promotion from League One.
That squad is understandably remembered fondly amongst the fanbase, but one player in particular really took the bull by the horns in the business end of that campaign to get the Saints over the line and to the promised land of the Premier League after a seven-season absence.
Billy Sharp goals key to promotion in 2012
Southampton signed Billy Sharp from fellow Championship side Doncaster Rovers in January of 2012, identifying that they were over-reliant on the goals of Rickie Lambert in their fight for promotion.
Having led the table for almost the entirety of the season, the Saints had lost three in their last four when Sharp arrived and had seen West Ham United overtake them at the top of the league. Sharp had scored ten goals and provided two assists in 20 Championship games for a struggling Doncaster side, so adding the striker to an attack that included Lambert and was being fed by the creativity of Adam Lallana was an inspired decision.
Sharp, then 26, made an instant impact as he scored on his Saints debut as Nigel Adkins’ side saw off Burnley 2-0. It was in the final ten games – the stage of the season Martin’s side find themselves at now – in which Sharp really provided the goals that dragged Southampton to second spot.
The now Hull City striker scored eight goals in the final ten games of the season, including two against former club Doncaster, two against bitter rivals Portsmouth and the goal that opened the scoring in the final day 4-0 win over Coventry City that secured promotion.
In an article by The Athletic looking back at Sharp’s career as he became the all-time top goalscorer in the Championship in January 2022 with his 122nd strike (now 130), former Saints boss Adkins reflected on the decision to bring Sharp to the club.
Adkins said: “We couldn’t just rely on Rickie (Lambert) scoring all the goals. So, we got Billy in. It took him a bit of time to get used to what we were like. He wasn’t quite fit, certainly in terms of the fitness we had. But he came in and scored some valuable goals.”
Who will be Southampton’s hero in the promotion race?
The current crop of Southampton players are likely to need some valuable goals of their own between now and the end of the season.
Former teammate of Sharp at Doncaster, James Coppinger, spoke of how “Scoring goals is almost like a superpower, something not many people have. But Billy (Sharp) has, thanks to that drive and determination to be the best.”
The man most likely to provide said goals in Martin’s side is top goalscorer Adam Armstrong, with his 18 league goals making him the second top scorer in the Championship behind Blackburn Rovers’ Sammie Szmodics. However, when you account for both goals and assists, Armstrong is comfortably the biggest goal contributor in the league with his 11 assists taking him to 29 goal contributions.
Sharp was a mid-season signing in 2012 and the Saints added two players to their ranks this January, with David Brooks and Joe Rothwell both joining on loan from Bournemouth. Rothwell has only started two league games but has contributed with two braces; his four goals so far including a stunning strike in a dramatic 5-3 win over Huddersfield Town that saw him win the Championship Goal of the Month award for February.
Brooks has already shown his quality in his short time at the club. Such is the Welshman’s ability, he has displaced Adam Armstrong from the right wing position which he had occupied for the majority of the season so that he can play his favoured position and cut in on his wand of a left foot. This has seen Armstrong instead play from the left, whilst Che Adams is the man trusted to lead the line.
Brooks himself has provided two goals and three assists since making the move to St Mary’s and interestingly all of his goal contributions have come in wins for Southampton.
It remains to be seen who will be Southampton’s hero in the final stages of this season, but any player could do worse than to look to Sharp’s fine form in the final ten games of the 2011/12 season as a source of inspiration ahead of what is sure to be one of the most intense promotion battles in Championship history.