Boro, Ipswich & Millwall will be wary of what’s happening at Southampton right now | OneFootball

The Saints' recent resurgence is likely to have many promotion rivals on red alert

Southampton's season has certainly been one of chaos, but now the Saints are certainly on the right track in the race for promotion to the Premier League.

As is so often the case with sides who come into the Championship as a previous top-flight club, the South Coast outfit were pinpointed as one of the favourites for promotion before a ball had even been kicked, as well as the fact they were embarking on a new era under Eckert's predecessor, Will Still.

In truth, back-to-back relegations to League One for the first time in 15 years looked a more likely route out of the division for Saints at the time of his departure in November after just two wins in 13 games.

Despite an initial upturn in fortunes as interim boss, Eckert was the latest boss to feel the heat from a largely disgruntled fanbase at the turn of the year, but he and his players have since responded in some fashion.

After their 2-1 defeat to Hull City at St Mary's on January 17th, Southampton found themselves as the lowest-placed of the three newly-relegated sides alongside Ipswich Town and Leicester City, languishing in 15th and 10 points adrift of the play-offs.

Since that bleak afternoon, Eckert's side have embarked on a 13-game unbeaten streak across all competitions, reaching the play-off places and the FA Cup quarter-finals in the process.

It is a remarkable short-term transformation of form and fortunes that, now, will certainly have those in the automatic promotion race worried, as at least two of Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Millwall will have to go again in the play-offs.

Southampton's form will worry Middlesbrough, Ipswich Town and Millwall ahead of play-offs

With a high-valued squad full of talent, Premier League and international experience, even during a run of bad form, some onlookers have expected a side of Saints' calibre to eventually wake up from their slumber.

As previously mentioned, that is exactly what has occurred, with Eckert's team finding different ways to win against a plethora of sides around them in the standings, as well as recording statement successes over the likes of league leaders, Coventry City.

Rather unsurprisingly, in the 11 Championship matches which have come since their last defeat against the Tigers, no side in the division has accrued more points than Saints, who have taken 27 from a possible 31, scoring 22 times in the process.

Whilst the run has now taken them into the top six - initially on goal difference ahead of Wrexham with fifth-placed Hull now just three points in front - it may come as a minor annoyance to Saints fans that the late nature of such exploits means they are unlikely to trouble the automatic promotion picture.

That is currently being overseen by Coventry and the chasing pack of Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Millwall instead.

Whilst all three sides have been deserving of their current positions across 38 games, the truth of the matter is that Boro, in particular, aren't exactly in the richest vein of form at present.

There is now a real danger that Kim Hellberg's side could slip back into third, or even fourth, whilst the same could also be said on the flipside, with all three teams still having to play each other at some point.

At present, it would be a mouth-watering semi-final between Ipswich and Southampton in the play-offs, but one of the sides could also end up facing them in the semi-finals as fourth versus fifth, as a continued surge up the table by Eckert's side above Hull cannot be ruled out at this stage.

Southampton FC's current run has shades of Aston Villa's 2019 play-off triumph

Momentum can be one huge advantage heading into the play-offs, and Saints certainly have a lot of it right now as they look to claw themselves back to the Premier League at the first time of asking through the post-season lottery yet again, having done exactly that in 2024.

However, one clear difference from that campaign to now, is that it seemed obvious for a while that Southampton would finish in the top six, whilst that hasn't been the case until lately with this unbeaten streak.

As such, there is a valid comparison to be made between current developments in Hampshire and how Aston Villa rose from mid-table obscurity to play-off winners in the latter stages of the 2018/19 campaign.

Villa, of course, parted company with Steve Bruce in October 2018 and in came Dean Smith, who, like Eckert, didn't get off to the smoothest of starts in B6.

However, he was able to galvanise the Villans squad to 10 wins in their final 12 matches before defeating West Bromwich Albion on penalties in the play-off semi-finals and a famous 2-1 win over Derby County at Wembley Stadium.