Five months ago, Southampton achieved their promotion dream by winning the Championship playoffs final 1-0 against Leeds United to complete their return to the Premier League. It was an all-round team effort from every squad player, and one of the standout performers of the season was Adam Armstrong. The 27-year-old striker scored 24 goals and provided 13 assists in the previous campaign that included a playoff brace against West Brom and the winning goal in the final.
Since arriving at the St. Mary's Stadium in a £15 million move from Championship side Blackburn Rovers in 2021, Armstrong has established himself as a key player in the Saints attack. While Armstrong made a name for himself in the Championship, the same cannot be said about the Premier League. Armstrong played two seasons in the English top flight for Southampton prior to last season but has only managed to find the back of the net on four occasions.
Russell Martin discusses Southampton top-scorer's Premier League struggles
One of the big reasons behind this stems from his inability to remain calm and composed inside the box which was evident in the third league matchday when the 27-year-old missed a great chance to level the match for the Saints. His struggles in front of goal have led manager Russell Martin to replace him with other centre forwards such as Cameron Archer and Ross Stewart in the starting lineup. Southampton's top-scorer last season has made a few substitute appearances in the recent matches, and Martin discussed his underwhelming start to the season, saying,
"Arma's really frustrated at the moment, as he should be. It's probably been a bit hard on him because we signed Cameron Archer and Ross Stewart had come back fit.Russell Martin
Arma just needs to be patient and trust that we know what he can do. There'll be games where we really, really need him."
The October international break has arrived which gives Southampton and Adam Armstrong some much needed time to train and improve their game for the upcoming fixtures. Further Armstrong will want to seek inspiration from Archer's incredible comeback in the recent weeks to return to his prolific goalscoring form in the Premier League.