By Sanny RudravajhalaYou couldn’t help being blown away by Southampton’s showing at Wrexham on Tuesday. A 5-1 victory saw the Saints players and staff serenaded in the far corner of the Racecourse. Wrexham’s players were sitting in silence in the dressing room. Under the lights, the harsh reality of what it takes to make it to the big time was brought into focus.That midweek mauling saw Southampton leapfrog Wrexham into the final play-off place but such have been the twists and turns at the top this season, we’re perfectly set up for the final run-in to reach the Premier League.Wrexham running out of road?Wrexham’s weekend trip to Birmingham City will inevitably have Hollywood clichés attached but they exist for a reason. Both have had big name investment, but Wrexham sought to sign homegrown players with Championship experience ahead of more glamourous names from further afield. It gave them a host of plug and play footballers in a way that Birmingham couldn’t match. Captain Dom Hyam, arriving in September from Blackburn Rovers, was a perfect example of that. Nathan Broadhead and Kieffer Moore also needed no time to bed in.The scale of their capitulation at the hands of Southampton was a shock but the defeat was not a surprise. Wrexham have won just two in seven and across 2026, the 27 goals they’ve conceded is the joint third-most in the division. Only Leicester (29) and Sheffield Wednesday (37) have performed worse. By comparison, their play-off rivals have all conceded at least 10 fewer, excluding Hull (21).Their midfield was completely overwhelmed on Tuesday. As I said on BBC 5 Live Sport, it felt like Southampton had an extra man. They’re desperately missing a midfielder of the quality that could deal with Matsuki and with Finn Azaz, who ran the show on a night where they should have had even more. Ben Sheaf and Matty James have both been long-term absentees but another defensively minded middle man would be a priority signing in the summer.Phil Parkinson has called for a reaction on Sunday at St Andrew’s. We all know that this is a club that is ready for the big occasion if they can recover. In their remaining games, a trip to Champions-elect Coventry, and a home showdown with promotion rivals Middlesborough could be box office.An extra season of consolidation, however, would do Wrexham good but they’re the only club in the Championship who could get promoted and have the resource and nous to remodel their squad to be Premier League-ready. Indeed, I was saying the same thing last season!Whatever happens, this will be the best league finish in their 161-year history and that is to be commended.Super Saints unstoppableTuesday was my 53rd game of the season in the press box and the most impressive showing I’ve seen. Tonda Eckert made six changes from Southampton’s wonderful performance to beat Arsenal and reach the FA Cup semi-finals.The German had the luxury of not even needing to play Tom Fellows, whilst the introduction of Leo Scienza was ludicrous really. Having ripped into Mikel Arteta’s side, he was quickly giving Phil Parkinson’s team the same treatment. That was not before Ross Stewart had also come off the bench to score a trademark header. The big Scot has had a torrid few years with injury but has scored six in his last 13 appearances. Tellingly, he is averaging a goal every 94 minutes across that period.If Eckert had been in charge from the beginning of the season, they would be challenging for the title. Their poor start under Will Still means they’re running out of games in the quest for automatic promotion. Eckert also has the small matter of facing Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at Wembley, before a crunch-tie with Ipswich Town just days later. Just to further complicate matters, that’s their game in hand over their promotion rivals and any hopes of automatic promotion will hang on victory.Promotion 4D Chess and five ‘six-pointers’I was at Coventry on Good Friday to see Jack Rudoni power them on to victory over Derby. With that, I thought Derby’s play-off race was done but then you see they face Southampton next and this 4D chess match of a season continues.Coventry and Hull then cancelled each other out in their late-night Monday stalemate. Hull have been incredibly efficient this season and that’s emphasised by them outscoring their xG (53) by a further 10. I’ve been expecting them to fall off but they just keep going! Up next, Ipswich have an East Anglian Derby against a resurgent Norwich side under Phillippe Clement before a crucial game with Middlesbrough. It’s unsurprising that, like Southampton, the relegated Premier League side have strength in depth that’s been much-needed during this crunch-period.For their part, Boro are now winless in five, with just two victories in 11. They’ve missed an outright forward all season. Tommy Conway has nine goals and assisted five more, but he should have 13 (given his xG of 12.6) and is more of a linkman. David Stelec isn’t particularly regarded as a striker in his native Slovakia and one-goal Morgan Whittaker has been missing with injury. Crucially too, their star, the mercurial Hayden Hackney has also been injured. If those two can return sooner rather than later, then Kim Hellberg’s side still have a chance. And in amongst all this are Millwall. The league’s great disrupters upended Boro before suffering a damaging home defeat to Norwich. Crucially, they face none of their rivals in the run in and each of their games is winnable. In Femi Azeez they have a brilliant creator and despite injuries, they have kept a solid central defensive core which has been vital.So, what does this all mean? Automatic promotion will hang on Ipswich’s two games in hand and having gone through every Championship fixture on FotMob, there are FIVE games that could legitimately be called ‘six-pointers’. It gives Wrexham hope, if they can right themselves…Thinking back, again, to the Racecourse on Tuesday night, and long after the songs had ended and the stands emptied, I was struck with just how much the Southampton fringe players were committed to their post-match exercises. There were squat machines, stretch bands and coaches co-ordinating recovery at a level you don’t ordinarily see in the Championship. The details are covered; now comes the chaos and the Saints are primed to pounce.(Cover image from IMAGO, additional images via the author)You can follow every game from the EFL on FotMob – with in-depth stat coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.