The Saints are now unbeaten in five, conceding just two during that spell and keeping three clean sheets: the most recent came against Nigel Clough’s Derby County side in an emphatic 4-0 win in which January signing Tadanari Lee scored his first goal for the club, with a thunderous effort from just inside the box.

The blip is well and truly over:  it concerned a few Saints fans, as Southampton went nine games with only two wins and their impenetrable home record came to an end, first stumbling to Blackpool in a 2-2 draw and then losing to Bristol City in the last game of 2011. However, a timely return of form has steadied the ship and Southampton are back at the top of the table: even if it is only till Tuesday, when one of West Ham’s two games in hand present a chance for The Hammers to return to the top. Still, independent of the games in hand for other sides, Saints will remain in the automatic promotion places, where they have been all season.

With a reinforced squad, thanks to some astute January signings in the form of free transfer Tadanari Lee, a Japanese international from Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Spanish winger Iago Falque on loan from Tottenham and 10-goal Billy Sharp from Doncaster Rovers, and construction of the new Football Development & Support Centre at the Staplewood training ground underway, as the club continue to pride themselves on high quality graduates such as Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott, the South Coast club looks destined for the Premier League.

MayCauseOffence’s Jordan Florit looks at the top five reasons why Southampton F.C. will be in the Premier League next season:

Nigel Adkins and Andy Crosby

By Brighton, Portsmouth and most recently West Ham fans, Nigel Adkins is detested. His ever positive demeanour and his extensive use of clichés and metaphors can frustrate opposition fans and is confused for pseudo-arrogance: however, the management duo is far from arrogant. For them, preparation is key and a painfully long process, but one well worth undergoing.

For all the importance of Nigel Adkins’ tactical nous, it would be worthless without Andy Crosby’s clever set plays and his ability on the training ground to get players “Saints fit,” and both have been invaluable in the set up at St. Mary’s: along with Dean Wilkins, Andy Crosby runs the fitness programme at Staplewood, and Adkins has commended it for the turnaround Rickie Lambert has experienced in his fitness and expects the same to happen for Billy Sharp. For the value of Crosby’s set plays, which Adkins describes as “massively important,” look no further than the weekend’s result in which two of Southampton’s four goals came from set plays.

Adam Lallana

Considered by TheSeventyTwo as the best player in the Championship, Adam Lallana’s form will be pivotal in determining whether Southampton F.C. finish in the automatic promotion places or not. Utilising one of his most used catchphrases, Nigel Adkins summed up Lallana’s influence on Saints post-match, describing him as a player who “oozes class, it’s as simple as that.”

Saints fans cheekily sing that he overshadows Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, but whilst Southampton fans do so with a tongue firmly placed in cheek, to say he is this generation’s Matthew Le Tissier to the Southampton faithful, is no understatement. His boisterous flair, his jinking turns and twists and his measured confidence is what makes Saints tick and his good health will be vital in Southampton’s 14-game run in until the end of the season.

At current, Lallana has five assists and is therefore Southampton’s fifth highest assister and yesterday’s volleyed goal, a scintillating finish, which saw the talented attacking midfielder finish the moved he started on the half-way line with a one-two with Tadanari Lee, was his eighth goal of the season.

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