Premier League: Southampton form candidates in wild fight for sixth

Michael Lintorn
08 February 2016

Maya Yoshida was responsible for closing the gap between Southampton and sixth place to two points

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Michael Lintorn assesses each of the five teams squabbling over the Premier League's final top-six berth...

"Southampton are the club with all the momentum following five straight clean sheets since Fraser Forster and Cedric Soares regained fitness in a run which has yielded 13 points. Even more impressively, the last three games of that sequence came against top-six occupants Man United (1-0), Arsenal (0-0) and West Ham (1-0)."

Obviously all punting eyes are on the Premier League winner market due to the rarity of there being four well-matched challengers and widespread uncertainty over the outcome in February, with Arsenal 3.259/4, Leicester 3.45, Manchester City 4.77/2 and Tottenham 5.95/1.

However, though the stakes aren't as high, the competition to join that quartet and Manchester United in the top six is similarly intense, and sixth place will pay out a Europa League spot if the Citizens win the Capital One Cup or one of the top five lift the FA Cup.

West Ham are the team in possession on 39 points, but two of the chasers are trusted more them at 4.67/2 after they invited the field back into contention when offered an opportunity to pull clear. The Irons had five points of space after beating Aston Villa and would have gone seven ahead if they won away to Southampton on Saturday teatime, yet instead the defeat trimmed the gap to a measly two.

The Saints were the ones marching into that distance on 37 points and they are the club with all the momentum following five straight clean sheets since Fraser Forster and Cedric Soares regained fitness in a run which has yielded 13 points. Even more impressively, the last three games of that sequence came against top-six occupants Man United (1-0), Arsenal (0-0) and West Ham (1-0).

It means that in addition to being in their finest form of the campaign, they only have three of the elite left to face, so the fixture list is on their side too. The odds aren't though, with Ronald Koeman's men shorter than West Ham but not considered frontrunners at 4.47/2.

Who are fancied most? Not eighth-placed Everton, who moved onto 35 points, four adrift of West Ham, with a magnificent 3-0 victory at Stoke. They are 4.77/2.

When the Toffees are good, they really are quite special, which is why they have outscored everyone bar Leicester and Man City and have the best goal difference beyond the top four, yet consistency is a huge issue. The Britannia Stadium win was their first against a non-bottom-three side since mid-September.

Instead, it is Liverpool, also on 35 points, inspiring the most faith in their top-six credentials, despite competing on three other fronts and suffering another Premier League setback when surrendering a 2-0 lead at home to struggling Sunderland, who had lost their six other trips to top-half clubs.

The Reds have triumphed once in six league matches, when they rallied from 3-1 down at Norwich, prevailing six times in 17 contests in total under Jurgen Klopp, so appear a touch overrated at 2.68/5.

Chelsea are the only other single-digit hopefuls at 6.05/1, with their post-Jose Mourinho run of nine top-flight outings without a defeat encouraging faint belief that they can close down a nine-point deficit.