Southampton: Why 43 is the magic number to meet, or exceed

At the end of October, the season looked like being a crash course in humiliation and a long relegation battle for Southampton. 

Beaten 9-0 at home by a rampant Leicester City side who took full advantage of a 10 man Saints team, records were being set that are not the kind you want to be associated with.

That Friday evening at St Marys marked the lowest point of the Saints season and whilst there wasn’t an immediate change in form, there was only one way Southampton could go unless the season was to completely disintegrate in front of their supporters eyes.

While November might have paved the way for a push up the Premier League table it has been the last four weeks where the side have come together under Ralph Hasenhuttl and suddenly become one of the form sides in the division.

A four match unbeaten run over the busy Christmas and New Year period bettered only by Liverpool and matched by Watford has propelled the Saints into mid table, but still just as close to the relegation places as they are to the European spots. 

Given the harshness of the schedule during that time, Hasenhuttl has managed to get a great consistency from his players for the first time this season and with the undoubted unpredictability involving every team besides Liverpool these mini run of form will be crucial to maintaining Premier League status for all clubs. 

The key to Southampton’s survival will be the seemingly re-born Danny Ings. After an extremely injury-hit spell at Liverpool, Ings returned south initially on loan at St Marys and with a goal roughly every three games last season the Saints made the move permanent and thirteen league goals so far this season puts him second only to Jamie Vardy at the top of the scoring charts.

Indeed, Hasenhuttl even opted to give his star striker a rest for the Boxing Day trip to Chelsea in anticipation of gaining more from the visit of Crystal Palace, the team returning with three points from Stamford Bridge whilst Palace took a point back to Selhurst Park, Ings scoring again after a twenty-one minute cameo at Chelsea.

But Southampton are far from a one-man team. The defensive line rarely changes personnel and now they are beginning to see those benefits with two clean sheets in the last three games, both coming against sides with top four aspirations.

James Ward-Prowse is starting to put in outstanding performances across midfield, stifling attacks and setting his own team on the front foot, impressions that will not go unnoticed in the eyes of the national team manager. Shane Long is a steady back up for Ings, full of international experience with the Republic of Ireland while Nathan Redmond and Moussa Djenepo provide the guile out wide. 

Later this month sees the return fixture at the King Power Stadium, a good measure of how far the Saints have come since that unforgettable game at St Marys and no doubt the game will be billed as a shoot-out between Jamie Vardy and Danny Ings although there is far more to this game than these two strikers.

That match will also mark the fiftieth match in charge of Southampton for Hassenhuttl and he won’t want to see the Saints capitulate as they did back in October but given how they’ve played since then Leicester should be in for a much tougher match this time around.

Hassenhuttl will be aware that his side must maintain this form for as long as they can, in previous years another fifteen points would see the Saints hit the expected safety margin of forty points, but with nineteen sides out of twenty capable of beating each other, there might be a need for forty-three or even more points to secure another season of Premier League football.

Follow Trevor on Twitter @trevk37