Southampton are in a fierce race for promotion at the top of the Championship, and former Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman has made his prediction.
After losing to Millwall and Hull City, Southampton appeared to be out of the battle to finish in the top two in the Championship.
However, after defeating Birmingham City and Sunderland and seeing Ipswich Town lose to Cardiff City, the Saints are back in contention and can pull within three points of second-place Leeds United if they win their game in hand.
The pace at the top of the second tier has been unrelenting, and in a normal season, Russell Martin’s side would be solidly in the league’s top two.
Unfortunately, setting a record by going 22 matches unbeaten is insufficient to propel them into the automatic promotion spots.
With Martin’s men on a roll, it’s tough to predict which two sides will advance automatically; nevertheless, former Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman has given his opinion.
David Seaman makes Southampton promotion prediction
Seaman is largely regarded as one of Arsenal’s finest goalkeepers of all time, and his association with Leeds, having come through the academy as a child, is well known.
The former shot-stopper now often shares his thoughts on the ‘Seaman Says’ podcast, and on this occasion, he predicts who will be promoted back to the Premier League.
When asked who he believes will go up, he replied, “Do you know what? I believe the three that went down.”
He was then asked if he thought the Saints will automatically go up, and while he thinks Leeds would win the league, he believes they have a chance of finishing ahead of Leicester.
“No, I’m not going to say you’re going to pip Leeds am I?,” he replied. “You might pip Leicester because we’re going to win the league, that would be nice to see that, but if they go into that play-off though, that’s lottery time.”
The Saints promotion fate will be decided by three huge fixtures
Southampton must play Ipswich, Leicester, and Leeds in their next ten games, before facing the Whites on the final day of the season.
If promotion is still undecided by the final match, the Saints will face a final-day shootout to determine whether they will advance.
At the present, predicting the division’s top two appears to be an impossible assignment, and this is likely to continue for the rest of the season.
