It’s possible that Southampton has noticed a recent development in the Championship promotion chase.
Now eight points outside of the automatic promotion spots, Russell Martin’s team is in fourth place in the standings. Additionally, they lag league leaders Leicester City by 11 points.
It has since come to light, though, that the Foxes are being punished for breaking rules pertaining to sustainability and profit.
However, there have been rumors that Southampton is keeping an eye on the situation given that it has been proposed that a points deduction for a team that gets promoted would occur next season rather than this one.
If the club believes Leicester City has unfairly benefited from a sporting edge, they may decide to file a lawsuit.
However, it appears that Martin is currently in that circumstance.
Russell Martin quizzed on Leicester City situation
Given the impact it could have on his team, Martin has now inevitably been asked about what is going on at The King Power Stadium.
However, the Southampton boss is seemingly not concerning himself with that situation at this moment in time.
Instead, he appears to be prioritising the results of his own team, over the course of the coming weeks.
When asked how he would feel if Leicester City points deduction was implemented next season rather than this, Martin told Sky Sports:
“I have no real feeling towards it all. I don’t understand the situation, I don’t know much about it, it’s the first I’ve heard about it now. If I had a detailed understanding I’d definitely give you an answer you know that. But I really don’t so I’ve got no opinion on that at all.
“We focus on what we do here and how we do it and what other people do is down to them, so honestly it’s the first I’ve heard of it genuinely. I might go find some about it now so I might have a stronger opinion on it at some point. But for now it is what it is and I don’t know how it’s going to affect things so I have no real feeling about it now.”
Next up for Southampton is a clash with Sunderland at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon.
Southampton must keep focus on themselves
This approach from Martin is a sensible one for him to be taking.
Even if Leicester City do get a points deduction, there are two other teams Southampton are battling with for automatic promotion.
Both Leeds United and Ipswich Town are in excellent form right now, and have themselves opened up something of a gap on the Saints.
As a result, even if the Foxes did lose points this season, there is no certainty that it would guarantee automatic promotion for Southampton.
That therefore, means that Martin and his team simply have to continue to try and pick up as many positive results as they can.
If they do that, they may have a chance of claiming a top two spot anyway. If not, it puts them in a stronger position to take advantage if Leicester City are hit by a points deduction this season.
Otherwise, it will at least ensure that Southampton carry some important momentum into the play-offs at the very least.
With that in mind, while it will be interesting to see how things play out here, there are more important issues for the Saints to focus on right now.
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