Norwich victory highlights the hidden area where Southampton rule the Championship

Southampton are now sat inside the expanded playoff format in the Championship after battling hard to a 1-0 away win at Norwich City last night.

Kuryu Matsuki would be the decisive matchwinner for the Saints, as they tasted success for the first time on the road this season.

Hopefully, the wins can continue to flow, away from the safe sanctuary of St. Mary's, with Tonda Eckert and Co. definitely eyeing up the top two automatic promotions over the weeks to come.

While they might just be sat in seventh position in the standard rankings, the South Coast titans do sit atop this mountain, when looking at one specific metric.

The hidden area that Southampton rule

Following the 1-0 victory being secured at Carrow Road, the Saints have now spent 41.9% of their matches this season in the Championship in the lead.

This eye-opening stat is courtesy of Opta Joe, who also state that this is the highest percentage of any team in the second tier so far this campaign, with Southampton clearly no pushovers when it comes to surrendering a lead.

Southampton standing out amongst the crowd with this particular stat does make sense, as when they race into lead at St. Mary's, it's often very hard for an opposition team to then catch up with them.

With their away day hoodoo now broken, too, Eckert and Co. should have the confidence to keep grinding out determined victories.

If they keep this up across the full season, the hope will be that they rise to the top of the overall Championship, as well.

Hopefully, they can be near the top of the Championship overall

It is going to be tough for Southampton to break into the top two picture.

They were hamstrung from minute one of the season, owing to a four point deduction, but they have still managed to bounce back and valiantly win games, in order to be in the playoff positions.

Therefore, fingers will be crossed that they can put this winning mentality to good use in nerve-wracking clashes to follow, in order to upset the likes of Middlesbrough - sitting in second - who are on 21 points, next to the Saints' 16.

Swansea City sit on 23 points right at the very summit, but Southampton won't fear Vitor Matos' league leaders, either, as they took the lead against the Swans last month at St. Mary's, and never looked back, as they sealed a terrific 3-1 victory against the early pace-setters.

Everything is pointing in the direction of Eckert's men only just getting started this season, and with this metric on their side, they should be able to grab more hard fought wins like the one collected in Norfolk, when the going gets tough.

They can also turn on the style against some of the league's very best, as showcased in that 3-1 win over Swansea last month.

With the South Coast side further sticking out as the second top goalscorers so far this season in the division, they're near the top of various illuminating metrics.

But, when all is said and done, the other thing that matters for a promotion-chasing side is to be inside the top two positions, or the expanded playoff format, as Eckert dreams of leading his very talented camp to the promotion they richly deserve.

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