Southampton: Adam Armstrong can have the last laugh after remarkable EFL snub - View | OneFootball

Surprisingly, Russell Martin’s Southampton now find themselves back in the automatic promotion race.

The Saints hit a tricky run of form a few weeks back, and from many people’s point of view, it looked as though the club had to settle for a place in the play-offs.

However, the poor run of form from Ipswich Town, Leicester City, and Leeds United coinciding with Southampton’s winning run has now meant the South Coast side are back in contention.

It has been a very good campaign for Southampton, with many of their star players impressing, but probably none more so than forward Adam Armstrong.

The 27-year-old has once again been excellent in the Championship, so when the Championship Team of the Season was announced earlier this week, it would have come as a shock to see the striker wasn’t named in the team.

Adam Armstrong misses out on Championship Team of the Season 2023/24

On Sunday evening, it was EFL awards night, and along with the individual awards, there was also recognition for the team of the season.

It may not come as a surprise to see that the team was full of players from Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Leeds United. But what may be a surprise is that only one Southampton player was named in it, and it wasn’t Adam Armstrong.

Leicester’s Mads Hermansen was named in goal, with the back four in front of him being Kyle Walker-Peters, Ethan Ampadu, Jacob Greaves, and Leif Davis.

It was then Gabriel Sara and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the midfield department, who then had Morgan Whittaker, Sammie Szmodics, and Crysencio Summerville in front of them. It was Leeds’ Georginio Rutter who was given the forward role.

Rutter getting ahead of Armstrong may be a mystery to many people, as the Southampton man has 20 goals and 13 assists to his name this season, while Rutter has 15 assists but only six goals.

This snub will have disappointed Armstrong, but he can still have the final say, as he has the chance to guide Southampton to the Premier League.

Adam Armstrong can have the last laugh by winning Southampton promotion

As previously mentioned, it has been a stellar campaign for Adam Armstrong on an individual basis.

The Southampton forward has started 41 of the 42 games the club has played in the Championship so far, averaging 83 minutes per game, and his performances have earned him to be named in the team of the week four times, as per Sofascore.com.

In that time, he has scored 20 goals, averaging 0.5 per game, and he could have easily had more, given that he has missed a staggering 25 big chances.

Armstrong has been a nuisance in front of goal, averaging 3.1 shots per game, with 1.4 being on target. But as well as scoring goals, the forward has really impressed with his creative side, as he’s created 11 big chances for his teammates and collected 1.4 key passes, which has helped him grab 13 assists, per Sofascore.com.

So, given what Armstrong has produced this season, it is a massive shock to see him absent from the team of the season.

However, while the Southampton man will be disappointed with the snub, he surely would rather celebrate being back in the Premier League than have individual recognition.

So, Armstrong can very much still have the last laugh and prove to people that he should have been named in that team of the season. As mentioned, the Saints are firmly back in the top two races, and with them having a game in hand, albeit against Leicester, they still have a great chance of winning automatic promotion.

The forward has been sensational going forward, and you feel that if Southampton are to get into the top two, then Armstrong needs to produce between now and the end of the season. Therefore, the striker can have the last laugh and seal the club’s automatic promotion, possibly at the expense of Leeds, which had more than one player in the team of the season.