Leeds have three games now remaining in the regular season, and require a turnaround in form to revive their push for automatic promotion and the league title.
After looking like a three-horse race for the top two, a wobble for Leeds, Ipswich, and Leicester has opened the door a great deal for Southampton to steal a march.
One of Southampton’s two games in-hand came last night at home to Preston, postponed last month due to a nearby fire to St Mary’s.
However, there were no issues for the Saints as they thumped Ryan Lowe’s side with three first-half goals to cruise to a 3-0 win.
Leeds-linked Che Adams netted a brace before Stuart Armstrong added their third to pile pressure on the top three ahead of some crucial fixtures.
With the Saints having four to play now, they face both Leicester City and Leeds before the end of the campaign.
Adam Armstrong lays down gauntlet to the top three including Leeds
Saints’ key man Adam Armstrong didn’t add to his goal tally, but cemented his standing as the player with the most goal involvements (33) in the division as he assisted the first of Adams’ brace.
After the game, the forward spoke to Sky Sports to share his thoughts on chasing down Leeds and co at the top:
“We have a massive four games coming up and hopefully we will end up being promoted. The way the gaffer sets us up is brave and we have to stay brave. We could have been four or five up but we have the three points and a massive win.”
It would have been foolish for anyone to have fully ruled out Southampton, but they did look buried after that last-minute loss to Ipswich.
The way they’ve recovered from that is huge and really makes the final weeks of this season even more interesting.
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they muscle back into the conversation in the next couple of games, especially with how the top three have been trudging along.
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