The Saints haven’t sat inside the top six of the Championship table since the first gameweek of the season, when they briefly vacated the fifth-place spot after beating Wrexham 2-1.
If results go their way this weekend, that place that has so long evaded Southampton could be theirs – and there would be no sweeter opponent to pull this off against.
Jones Returns
Charlton Athletic, who sit 18th in the Sky Bet Championship, visit Southampton at 15:00 on Saturday, but all the build-up to this game will surround one man.
Addicks boss Nathan Jones, who managed Southampton in their 2022/23 season that saw them relegated from the Premier League for the first time under Sport Republic, is set to return to St Mary’s for the first time since his spell in charge that saw Saints fans united against his management.
Jones’ dismal spell in charge of Saints in the 2022/23 season lasted just eight Premier League matches, including a 2-1 comeback loss to ten-man Wolves, before he was sacked.
In his first job since his embarrassing tenure at Saints, Jones has helped Charlton Athletic get promoted out of League One.
Already being thumped by Tonda Eckert’s side in the reverse fixture in November, Jones will undoubtedly be setting up differently to the high press that was cut through so easily in the Saints’ 5-1 win.
“We have to learn from that. They were on a good run, as they are now. There’ll definitely be structural things to learn,” Jones said in his pre-match press conference.
“There are a few other things as well. I envisage it to be different, but I don’t want to tempt fate. We know it’s a difficult game and a difficult place to go to.
“They are an ex-Premier League side with aspirations to go back up, and they’re in good form, so we know it’ll be a difficult game.
“I want us to equip ourselves considerably better than we did in the home one,” he added. “Our fans will be magnificent away from home.
“It’s a wonderful place to go. As we said, a year ago, we weren’t going to the places of the calibre of Southampton and Leicester and stuff.
“It shows how far we’ve come, and we’d like to get a result again.”
Play-Off spot beckons
Before looking at the other teams around them, the Saints need to be winning their matches. Do that, and a play-off spot is theirs.
But it could happen as early as this weekend, and Saints fans will undoubtedly be checking the table around them: Derby, Wrexham, Preston and Bristol City all failing to take three points from their games could see Saints climb into the top six.
Out of Southampton managers who have managed more than 20 games for the club, only Alan Pardew [1.92] has a higher points-per-game than Tonda Eckert’s 1.90.
With consistency comes results, and Southampton’s automatic promotion form since Tonda Eckert stepped up to the role of head coach is starting to bear its fruits.
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