Following great speculation over his future at the club, Adam Armstrong has left Southampton after five years and has officially made his switch to Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers.
While it doesn’t look like Wolves will be a top flight side for much longer, it’ll be interesting to see how he fares given the situation Rob Edwards and company find themselves in. Of course, the majority of Saints fans won’t care too much about that, and they will instead be focused on what the boys from the south coast can do to keep pushing their way up the table.
Are Southampton Promotion Contenders?
As of this writing, Southampton are out at 12/1 to be promoted back to the Premier League at the first time of asking – and those outside the UK can understand the value by using this betting odds converter. Either way, they are considered to be outsiders, and the table reflects that.
The Saints, after 30 games, managed to pick up 10 wins, 10 draws and 10 losses, which gives you a good idea of the inconsistency they have experienced since August. Still, it’s certainly a lot more promising than the first few weeks and months would have indicated, so you have to take the rough with the smooth in a league as unpredictable as this one.
The bigger issue is that Armstrong is the club’s top scorer with 11 goals in 29 appearances, and he also has four assists to his name. While it’s not the kind of return that was going to win him the golden boot, he’s the only consistent force outside of Finn Azaz that Southampton had at their disposal.
Perhaps this is an indication that the club is looking more so towards steadying the ship as opposed to vaulting straight back up into promotion contention. If they can have another summer to examine the squad and see where improvements need to be made, it could be more beneficial in the long run for the sustainability of the team.
Looking Ahead – Saints Cup Run?
As far as fixtures go, an FA Cup fourth round tie against Leicester (which follows a clash with the Foxes in the league just days prior) provides a nice source of excitement for those who may fancy a cup run. Even if that doesn’t come to fruition, their upcoming slate of games is favourable given how much of a hole Armstrong will leave up top.
The priority, in reality, will be making sure that they can look up instead of having to look down, with Southampton situated right in the middle of the pack in the Championship. A couple of big results could leave them on the verge of the top six, but on the flip side, a run of defeats could easily have them scrambling to avoid the bottom three.
Armstrong’s exit doesn’t signal the end of the road for Southampton this season, but what it does do is remind fans that there’s still a lot of work to be done before getting back to the heights that they have previously experienced.
