Southampton have been relegated to the Championship on Sunday with seven matches nonetheless left to play within the Premier League season.
The Saints’ descent, which was confirmed by Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur, is the earliest in Premier League historical past. The earlier report was collectively held by Ipswich City (1994-95) and Derby County (2007-08), who dropped from the highest flight with six matches to spare.
One other undesirable Derby report looms for Southampton. The Rams’ factors tally of 11 within the 2007-08 marketing campaign is the bottom ever recorded within the Premier League, and Southampton are at the moment one level shy of that depressing whole.
Will Southampton keep away from undesirable report?
Date
Fixture
April 12
vs. Aston Villa
April 19
@ West Ham United
April 26
vs. Fulham
Could 3
@ Leicester Metropolis
Could 10
vs. Manchester Metropolis
Could 18
@ Everton
Could 25
vs. Arsenal
“Our purpose needs to be not be the worst group,” Southampton supervisor Ivan Juric mentioned earlier than the loss to Spurs, based on BBC Sport. He additionally indicated that relegation was a foregone conclusion earlier than the match.
“It isn’t someplace we anticipated to be and it is embarrassing – we’re not going to shrink back from that,” defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis mentioned, based on BBC Sport.
Southampton have been promoted to the Premier League 315 days in the past. Supervisor Russell Martin was credited for his bold model of play within the Championship, however the group’s strategy proved to be a weak point within the tier above. Southampton repeatedly made expensive errors as they tried to bypass the press and instigate assaults from protection. Errors drained confidence, and their dwindling confidence led to extra errors.
Martin was sacked in December after one win in 16 Premier League video games and was changed by Juric. There’s solely been one league victory since.
Southampton provided little resistance and barely any attacking menace in north London. Brennan Johnson scored two first-half targets earlier than Mateus Fernandes’ Ninetieth-minute strike and Spurs loanee Mathys Tel’s profitable penalty on the loss of life belatedly stirred a sleepy second interval.
