Southampton were surprise 2-1 victors away at Leeds United on the final day of the Championship season.
Saints boss Russell Martin took his side north to Elland Road in the knowledge that this game was merely a formality before the play-offs begin given Southampton would finish fourth regardless of the result.
However, Leeds knew they could finish the day a Premier League team if they beat Southampton and Ipswich Town lost at home to Huddersfield Town.
As it was, Ipswich won 2-0 to secure back-to-back promotions, whilst goals from Adam Armstrong and Will Smallbone saw Southampton end a run of three consecutive defeats.
The significance of this should not be understated, as Martin made the risky decision to play his best side against Leeds despite the play-offs kicking off only a week later.
This was not the only surprise Martin threw up for the last game of the season, though, with a tactical change evident away at Leeds.
Russell Martin changes Southampton formation against Leeds
Having made a number of changes for the 1-0 defeat at home to Stoke City a week before, Martin was perhaps not in a position to do the same again against Leeds.
The fringe players that were given their opportunity in that game failed to impress which forced the issue against Leeds somewhat.
Southampton could not allow their form to continue to slide prior to the play-offs and that meant Martin sent out the team he felt was best equipped to beat their opponents.
With an intense run of fixtures over the past two months, Martin has not had as much time on the training pitch as he would have liked.
The Saints had a clear week to prepare to face Leeds and Martin and his coaching staff took this opportunity to try a new system that could now be the one they use in the play-offs.
Rather than the 4-3-3 Martin has favoured almost all season, Southampton shaped up in a 3-5-2 and it appears to be a system that suits a number of the St Mary’s side’s key players.
New Martin formation suits Kyle Walker-Peters
One player in particular that will benefit from the change in shape, if Martin is minded to continue with it, is Kyle Walker-Peters.
The 27-year-old was the only Southampton player to be named in the EFL Championship Team of the Season and has had a fine season in the second tier.
However, more recently Walker-Peters has not been able to hit the heights fans had grown accustomed to for the majority of the campaign.
This coincided with Southampton’s own downturn in form, but the right-back could be rejuvenated by the change in shape.
The tactical tweak allowed Martin to play all three of his senior centre-backs, all of whom arguably deserve to be in the side.
This meant Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Jack Stephens played either side of Jan Bednarek, who was the middle centre-back.
Walker-Peters and Ryan Manning were then operating as wing-backs; a role that suits them both but particularly Walker-Peters.
This position allows the ex-Tottenham man to bomb forward at will and provide the width on the right hand side, where his attacking prowess can really come to the fore.
This was exactly what he did for Southampton’s second goal.
Walker-Peters refused to give up on Bednarek’s raking diagonal ball before beating Leeds defender Junior Firpo and laying on the assist for Smallbone to fire home.
Martin rates the defender very highly and any system that allows his side to get the best out of the England International is surely good news for Southampton.
Speaking on Walker-Peters in January, Martin said: “He has some incredible attributes and does stuff I’ve never seen before. He’s a really gifted person.”
With a lack of wingers in form, perhaps allowing Walker-Peters and Manning to provide the width is a sensible solution from Martin.