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Can Saints Make It A Rare Three Wins On The Bounce In The Premier League
Thursday, 18th Nov 2021 13:24

If Southampton can overcome Norwich City and make it three wins in a row it will be the first time they have managed that feat in over a year, although this time it won't send them top of the league.

Saints go into the game at Carrow Road on Saturday looking to make it three straight Premier League wins in a row, it was in November last year they last achieved the feat where after beating Everton 2-0 at St Mary's they won 4-3 at Aston Villa before rounding it off with another 2-0 win over Newcastle United, that sent Saints top of the premier League for the first time ever and indeed top of the pile for the first time since 1988.

This wont be the case if they knock the Canaries off their perch but those looking for a good omen will notice that the 2nd win in that run last year was against Dean Smith's Aston Villa and this was the case a fortnight ago when our 1-0 win over the same manager and team resulted in his sacking and now he faces us again two weeks later with his new employers.

Since then we have failed to win three matches in a row in either the Premier League or in all competitions, but that is nothing new, last season's triple whammy was the first in the Premier League since the final games of the 2015/16 season, although on occasion we had managed three on the bounce when a cup game was brought into the equation, notably in 2019/20 season when a home win over Spurs and an away victory at Leicester were either side of a 2-0 cup win at home to Huddersfield.

Season 2018/19 saw several doubles but no triple and in 2017/18 we did not even achieve that failing to win two in a row in any competition.

Season 2016/17 again saw no triple whammy's in the Premier League but we did manage it when taking into account cup competitions, in the January Claude Puel's side won three in a row starting with a league win, then an FA Cup win and ending with a League Cup semi final win at Anfield where Shane Long scored one of the most pleasurable goals I have ever seen in person to give us a 1-0 win.

Earlier that season Puel had actually managed four wins on the trot against spread over 3 competitions, two wins in the League plus a Europa League win over Sparta Prague and a 3-0 win in our first ever appearance at the London Stadium when we hammered the Hammers 3-0.

Ronald Koeman as mentioned won his last 4 Premier League games in charge of us to earn a 6th place finish in 2015/16 and he had also won 3 in a row in the League a couple of months earlier as well as two trebles earlier in the season that included a League cup win in each.

In the early part of his first season in charge Koeman was the master of winning streaks, he won 6 in a row soon after he arrived that included 3 straight Premier league wins as well as a 4 game run but that included a League cup victory in the middle.

The next game was a 1-0 defeat to Spurs and then we went on another 5 game winning run, although we didn't manage 3 in a row in the League on this one.

His predecessor Mauricio Pochettino had a four game streak in his only full season with the club but there was a League Cup win over Bristol City sandwiched in there, however at the end of his first season he managed a Premier League triple as the season approached it's ending, but then failed to win any of the last 6 games of the season.

So if Ralph Hasenhuttl manages to mastermind victory over Norwich City he will achieve something that no other Saints manager aside from Ronald Koeman has done since our return to the Premier League and that is win 3 Premier League games in a row twice.

Koeman remains the undisputed champion of the winning run having managed 3 triples in the Premier League but if Ralph can win on Saturday he will be right behind him.

We should not underestimate this, to put it into perspective we have had 7 managers in the Premier League since 2012, in that time we have had only 5 winning streaks in the Premier League of 3 games or more in a total of 353 games, 4 managers have failed completely.

A win on Saturday would not only be great from a statistical point of view , but would also push us up the League and chasing a top 10 spot and not looking over our shoulders, but there is a long way to go yet.


Photo: Action Images



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underweststand added 18:51 - Nov 18
With Livramento and Broja already established names in the team, there have been storylines "hinting " that one or two of the B team lads might get some game time soon.

On paper this has to be the "easiest" fixture so far this season, and considering the team that Ralph put out for the Chelsea Cup game, it wouldn't surprise me to see one or two of the younger lads get a start v. Norwich. This has to be their best chance to play (rather than Liverpool next weekend) and at least we can see how they perform.

The only fly in the ointment is Dean Smith because having narrowly lost to Saints in the last game, he's sure to come up with some tactic to counteract our regular formation.
Will be interesting to see which start side that Ralph will put out.
-2

halftimeorange added 11:47 - Nov 19
Che Adams must start. Although he made a couple of early misjudgments he was clearly man of the match for Scotland against Denmark with an outstanding commitment and a great goal. He also worked well with Stuart Armstrong when he came on. Good to see two Saints clearly on the same wavelength.
4

JoeEgg added 06:59 - Nov 20
Quite simply we should win this game hands down with a full squad and surely Broja, Adams and Armstrong given a great chance to chalk up some much needed goals.
There will be no excuses and I just hope we dont get one goal up and then park the bus! We have the players to murder this lot.
We missed out on Eddie howe which I appreciate Nick and his pub chums are unconcerned about. So I want to see Ralph show what he has learnt and lead this team to a resounding vistory and step closer to a comfortable top ten league position.
-1

SaintPaulVW added 17:31 - Nov 20
Spoiler: No
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