The thing to remember is no autos doesn't mean no promotion. No autos means a two legged semi (second will be at home) and hopefully a trip to Wembley. When all is said and done, and the car crash of last year, this is a really good time to be a Saint.
Absolutely mental we now play 4 games before Ipswich play again. Have got to take advantage, even if it's just to breathe down their necks going into the last few games.
Let's face it, it is a big ask to win the next 5 games. That would mean we would win 7 on the trot. I don't think we have done that for years if ever. That is how unlikely the autos are IMO. But, it's the hope....
I think under Koeman we won the last 6 games in the PL that propelled us into Europe (the same season everyone called for his head after a period of around 4 points from 10 games over Christmas - Was it the thumping of Arsenal that turned it all around?) EDIT - There was a draw in there. We won 5 of the last 6 (7 of the last 9) and it was 4 points from 8 games over that Christmas period (and Arsenal was towards the end of that dire period, not the very end)
All this talk of winning runs assumes that the other teams (well, the three above us) will continue to win their games. Although this is a reasonable expectation, Saturday's results showed that nothing is certain. If (IF) Ipswich, Leicester and Leeds collectively decide that The Championship is a more enjoyable league to be in in, they may not win any more games. Might even lose a few. So Saints simply need to massively out-perform those teams, and we're going up. Seems straightforwards enough...
I said a month or two ago it's just as much holding your nerve at this stage of a season as it is anything else. There will be nerves in all camps, maybe less in ours as we're the hunters rather than being the hunted. Elland Road was so tense against Blackburn and hopefully the KP will be as well when we come to town and when Leicester play WBA on Saturday.
My feeling is that whichever team makes it 90 points first, will be getting one of the two automatic slots. And I say that because: If it's Ipswich - then it means all three of Leicester, Leeds and Saints will have done really, really badly over the next week or so. If it's Leicester - then it probably means they've beaten WBA and will be ahead of both Leeds and Saints going into match 45. Given that Leicester can afford one slip-up, getting victory against WBA (and therefore retaining that one slip-up opportunity) would be huge for them. If it's us - then it means Leicester and Leeds will have both failed to win their next match (as a minimum), and that we will have almost certainly have won our next two games. It's only Leeds where that theory doesn't quite work. If they are the first team to make it to 90, then it will almost certainly be because they beat Boro whilst Leicester don't beat WBA. But even in that scenario, Leeds' fate still wouldn't be in their own hands. As I say, one Leicester slip-up isn't enough for them. (And because of that I think Leeds fans can be happy with our win last night, as they could really do with us getting something at the King Power. Leeds' desperation for Leicester to slip-up twice - or Ipswich once - will far outweigh any inconvenience of having us sniffing around at their heels.)
Yeah I think the only team who would be unhappy with our win last night would be Leicester. Ipswich and Leeds would both want us in it for as long as possible to beat Leicester (and Leeds in Ipswich’s case).
That'd do nicely sir, suits me. Comfortable win at a canter for us, hard fought debilitating losses for Leicester and Leeds.
