4th August

So we're up to 6th place and Southampton.

SOUTHAMPTON

Southampton really are an incredible case. Every summer they get their best players cherry-picked by the bigger clubs, and yet every year they turn in an exceptional performance, guided by Ronald Koeman in his second year in the job. In the summer of 2015, they lost Nathaniel Clyne to Liverpool and Morgan Schneiderlin to Man United. Losing both of these players would have been a huge blow, but the Saints once again recovered well, bringing in Martina to replace Clyne, Clasie and Romeu to shore up their central midfield, and, arguably most importantly, Virgil van Dijk to improve their already rock hard central defence. The net result was an exceptional season for Southampton, in which they conceded just 41 goals, only six more than Spurs and United, and despite scoring only 59, secured a top six finish, guaranteeing them a group spot in the Europa League. 

Southampton didn't get off to the best of starts, pummeled by Everton and drawing against Watford, West Brom and Newcastle, although they did beat Norwich comfortably before losing to Man United, leaving them languishing in 16th place. October and early November saw a big recovery, as wins over Chelsea, Swansea, Bournemouth and Sunderland saw them six games unbeaten, climbing to twenty points off twelve games, before they hit a real road bump before and over the Christmas period - winning just one of their next eight games and losing six of them, as well as a league cup hammering at the hands of Liverpool. Bizarrely, their only positive result in this period was the 4-0 demolition of Arsenal on Boxing Day, but that failed to stem the tide of their sliding, and by 2nd January, they were down in 13th, just one point ahead of the Norwich side that had just beaten them.

But from there, it was full steam ahead for Southampton, winning five of their next six. The main reason for this is clear: they kept six clean sheets in those six games, as Van Dijk and Fonte formed a formidable partnership. Saints had been struggling to score goals, but they had players capable and the likes of Shane Long and Dusan Tadic started contributing, and Saido Mane finally managed to break his run of four months without scoring to aid their late season charge. Once Mane started scoring as Southampton produced an incredible turnaround against a Liverpool side looking strong, and they went on to only lose one of their last ten games, and that a narrow defeat against Leicester. In that period Southampton won seven, scored a well above average twenty four goals, including four on three occasions, and three on two occasions. 

The goal shift undoubtedly came because of Mane's return to form, as he started banging them in, but as before: Long, Tadic and Pelle all chipped in with their fair share, Tadic with seven and the other three breaking double digits. Southampton's only real problem in this area is lack of consistency: none of their strikers were scoring goals consistently, but in spells, as was evident by Mane failing to score between December and March. And with Mane and Pelle gone, Southampton have to make priority number one in this window finding a consistent goalscorer. 

But as already mentioned, Southampton were bolstered by their own strong defensive capabilities: keeping twelve clean sheets over the course of the season. The second half of the season can really be split into two halves: the first half Southampton did well because they were strong defensively, and as alluded to, the second half was because they worked out how to score goals. But, once again, this summer is going to be one of uncertainty. Mane, Pelle, Victor Wanyama and Ronald Koeman himself have all gone to other clubs, either for money and prestige, and for Southampton, it's yet another summer of having to establish themselves despite losing big names. By now, however, they've gotten very good at it. This season, they'll be looking at Long, Tadic, Redmond and Austin to provide them with the goals. And I expect them to do pretty well yet again.

The Hard and Fast Section

• Celtic through in the Champions League. Just. 
• West Ham need a victory tonight in the Europa League. 
• Fury faces doping charge. Couldn't have happened to nicer bloke. 
• Roberto Martinez is Belgium coach? Okay then...