Barclays Premier League goal drought threatening to derail European challenge of Ronald Koeman's Saints

When they hammered Sunderland 8-0 at a disbelieving St Mary’s last October, Saints were on fire up front.

After eight games of the 2014/15 season, Ronald Koeman’s men had blasted 19 goals.

Fast forward to today and in the subsequent 18 games Saints have scored just 19 more.

That’s right – as many goals in the first 12 hours of the Premier League season as in the next 27 hours.

Saints will enter this Saturday’s league game at West Bromwich Albion having only mustered one goal in their last 388 minutes of league action.

That is a run starting after Eljero Elia scored his second goal at Newcastle in the 62nd minute on January 17.

In times of goal droughts, the lazy sobriquet often applied to a team is ‘shot-shy’.

That’s not the case with Saints.

They have certainly been getting efforts in on goal – 65 in the last four games.

But only 23 of them have been on target, and only one – Sadio Mane’s injury time effort at Queens Park Rangers – has resulted in a goal.

No one can also accuse Saints of failing to get the ball into the opposition’s penalty area.

Including corners and free kicks, they have racked up 132 crosses in their last four games – an astonishing 51 of which came in the 1-0 loss to Swansea at St Mary’s.

However, those statistics cannot gloss over the fact that Saints are struggling in front of goal.

As a result, they have dropped out of the top four – where they have been virtual ever presents since the beginning of September.

No club the size of Saints has ever stayed so long in the Premier League’s top four in recent times.

It is a phenomenal achievement by Koeman and his players that Saints are still fifth heading into the last day of February.

But the fact remains a lack of goals threatens to undermine their challenge for either a Champions League or Europa League slot.

Saints have only scored at a rate of 1.055 goals per game in the league since slamming Sunderland 8-0.

That is easily the worst ratio of any of the teams currently in the Premier League’s top seven.

It is also actually a worse rate than Saints managed in 2004/05 when they finished bottom of the Premier League.

Back then, they managed 1.18 goals per game – 45 in 38 matches – despite an early season run under Steve Wigley of only one goal in six games.

The big question now for Koeman to wrestle with is this: Does he attempt to change the system that has generally worked so well for him?

Graziano Pelle celebrates a goal in the 8-0 win against Sunderland

Graziano Pelle has been an ever present starter in the league as a lone striker.

He started his first ever season in English football with six goals in his opening eight league matches.

But he has netted only twice in the 18 games since.

The Italian’s last league goal was against Everton on December 20 – and his current league drought is now a highly concerning 817 minutes.

If he fails to find the net at West Bromwich Albion, he will have gone TEN Premier League games without scoring.

Koeman has other options, but not many.

Shane Long is now available again after a rib injury, and was a sub against Liverpool last weekend.

The Republic of Ireland international has played as a central striker this season, but only in a handful of cup ties when Pelle was rested.

In league games, he has generally played out wide.

As a result, he has scored just twice in his 887 minutes of league football – and both those goals were after coming on as a sub against Leicester at St Mary’s.

Regarding Long, he could start out wide, or he could start through the middle but playing off of Pelle’s shoulder.

It is a position that Mane could also be called in to play, having occupied it to such great effect before injury against Arsenal and a subsequent trip to the Africa Cup of Nations.

The pacy Senegalese international has been used out wide since his return.

The big gamble, and one I can’t see happening if I’m honest, is for Pelle to be dropped and Long or even Mane played as a central striker.

Though Pelle hasn’t scored in the league this year, he remains an integral cog in the Koeman machine and to drop your leading scorer at this moment in time would be a massive gamble.

Mane, left out against Liverpool after arriving late at St Mary’s, can feel hard done by if he does not win a recall.

He was Saints’ stand-out attacking force over the Christmas and new year period, scoring in successive games at Palace and at home to Chelsea and Arsenal.

With five league strikes, he is averaging a goal every 233 Premier League minutes.

That might not sound overly impressive, but it’s still a better record than Pelle possesses – the latter is averaging a goal every 289 minutes in league action.

Elia is averaging a goal every 234 minutes – one minute more than Mane – with both his strikes having come at Newcastle over a month ago.

Eljero Elia celebrates scoring in the 2-1 win at Newcastle last month

Zambian striker Emmanual Mayuka is sidelined for the rest of the season, not that he contributed a huge amount in his brief appearances off the bench.

With that in mind, and outside of Pelle and Long, Koeman’s only other central striking options are youngsters Sam Gallagher and Ryan Seager.

Gallagher impressed under Mauricio Pochettino last term, but his progress has stalled in 2014/15 due to an injury he has only recently returned from.

Seager made his Premier League debut as a sub against Swansea recently, so has even less experience than Gallagher.

Pelle, despite his severe lack of goals, can expect to continue against the Baggies with possibly more of a role for Long and Mane.

One thing is for sure, though.

Saints need to start scoring regularly if their European football dream is not to end in a huge anti-climax.