Leeds, Ipswich & Leicester will be worried after interesting Southampton stat revealed: View | OneFootball

Even though we are yet to reach the halfway point in the Championship season, it’s starting to look like it could be a four-way battle for the two automatic promotion places.

Leicester City lead the way, which isn’t too much of a surprise, but it is a shock to see Ipswich only a point behind the Foxes, with Kieran McKenna’s side having enjoyed a brilliant return to the second tier.

Whether they can maintain the pace remains to be seen, but they’re sure to be pushed all the way, as Leeds and Southampton are hunting the top two.

The recently relegated duo trail Ipswich by seven and eight points respectively, with Leeds currently occupying third.

Southampton tighten up at the back

In truth, you could make a case for any of the four sides going up automatically, and it would be hard to argue.

However, one thing that will worry Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds is that Southampton have now finally started to keep clean sheets.

Incredibly, after 17 games, Russell Martin’s men had only kept two clean sheets. Of course, they were still picking up decent results, but that’s a terrible statistic for a side that wants to finish in the top two this season.

Clearly, it was something that needed to be resolved quickly, and even though Martin is never going to abandon his principles, they were conceding too many soft goals.

Yet, in the past two games they have recorded two shut-outs, and they have limited both Bristol City and Cardiff City to few chances in front of goal.

The Robins only had one effort on target as they were beaten 1-0 on the south coast, and the Bluebirds managed just three efforts on goal at St. Mary’s Stadium.

Martin seems to have settled on his preferred back four, with Taylor Harwood-Bellis partnering Jan Bednarek in the middle of the defence, and Kyle Walker-Peters and Ryan Manning down the flanks. And, having a settled unit in front of Gavin Bazunu is only going to help as they search for consistency.

Even though they are the lowest scorers in the top four, Southampton have only failed to score in two of their 19 games so far this season. So, finding the net isn’t really a problem, and nor would you expect it to be considering the attacking talent they have.

Therefore, if they start keeping clean sheets, they will start closing that gap pretty quickly on the sides above them.

A two-game sample size isn’t enough to be truly convinced Southampton have turned the corner in a defensive sense, and upcoming away games at Watford and Coventry will be a sterner test. Nevertheless, they can take encouragement and confidence from the resilience they have shown recently.

December is a notoriously difficult month, and it could be defining in shaping how this promotion race plays out.

For Southampton, it’s all about winning games, and if this improved defence continues to keep clean sheets, then you can be sure that their three rivals will be worried.