Saints can stay alive at 5-1

There have been so many twists and turns to the Coca-Cola Championship this season that it may pay to back Southampton at a general 5-1 to gain a surprise win away to West Bromwich Albion on Monday night - a match being shown live on Sky Sports 1.

West Bromwich go into the match knowing that victory will guarantee them promotion. Indeed, the Baggies boast such a good goal difference that all they really require is a point.

By contrast, Southampton are scrapping to stay up and will remain in the bottom three if they do not win.

Logic decrees, then, that West Bromwich should justify favouritism at around the 4-7 mark.

However, Tony Mowbray’s men lost the reverse fixture in October and have failed to win ten of their 22 league matches at the Hawthorns this term. It  was only last month that Leicester City, themselves scrambling to stay up, humiliated them 4-1 on home soil and a couple of weeks later Colchester United, who have already been demoted, led 3-2 there until the final minute.

The exploits of Leicester and Colchester should give Southampton hope, although predicting exactly what Nigel Pearson’s side will produce is not easy.

Their topsy-turvy season can be neatly summed up by two matches.  In December the Saints trounced promotion-chasing Hull City 4-0. Then, last month, they lost  5-0 to the same team.

It has been that kind of season for them but Stern John, who has scored 18 goals this term, remains a potential match winner. He is 16-5 with Paddy Power to score at any time.