Southampton have been relegated from the Premier League in record-setting time after a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday ended their transient keep within the top-flight.
Southampton relegated from Premier League in file time. (AFP)
Brennan Johnson struck twice within the first half and Mateus Fernandes’s late reply was too late to cease backside of the desk Southampton crashing again to the Championship.
Crushed for the twenty fifth time in 31 video games, Southampton are the primary Premier League crew to be relegated with seven matches nonetheless to play.
Ipswich and Derby have been relegated with six video games left in 1994-95 and 2007-08 respectively.
Ivan Juric’s aspect are additionally nonetheless one shy of matching Derby’s 2007-08 file low Premier League whole factors of 11.
Juric, whose crew are and not using a win of their final seven league matches, admitted this week that avoiding the file low factors tally is Southampton’s solely goal for the remainder of their dismal season.
“It’s a difficult day, a tough day but I see the fans, how they love their players and their team. It’s something incredible,” Juric mentioned.
“This experience has to serve to create something stronger than this. Now it is important to think about the next game and then we will see everything (about the future).
“I feel we did superb within the second half. Extra depth and technically we performed higher. I need to see that second half efficiency within the subsequent seven video games.”
Southampton were pushed to the brink of relegation when fourth-bottom Wolves came from behind to beat Ipswich 2-1 on Saturday, leaving Saints 22 points from safety.
Their slide down to the second tier was confirmed 315 days after they clinched promotion by beating Leeds in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Russell Martin was architect of Southampton’s success in the Championship with an attacking approach, but his insistence on sticking to those tactics backfired badly in the top flight.
Martin was sacked in December after a 5-0 defeat against Tottenham left Southampton bottom of the table with just five points from 16 games.
Former Roma boss Juric was hired to replace Martin on an 18-month contract, but the Croatian was unable to save Southampton from going down with a whimper.
No reprieve
Tottenham have been in turmoil themselves for much of the season, with fan protests against chairman Daniel Ley before and during the game underlining the depth of the problems in north London.
But under-fire boss Ange Postecoglou, who was jeered by Tottenham fans during Thursday’s defeat at Chelsea, earned a little breathing space at Southampton’s expense.
Trying to avoid their lowest finish since 1993-94 — when they came 15th — Tottenham’s first win in five league games lifted them to 13th place.
It was a much-needed boost before their Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday.
Postecoglou’s men took the lead in the 13th minute when Johnson fired into the roof of the net from Djed Spence’s cut-back for his 15th goal in all competitions this season.
That spelt doom for Southampton, who haven’t won a single league game this season after conceding the opening goal.
Wales forward Johnson doubled Tottenham’s advantage with a composed finish from James Maddison’s header in the 42nd minute.
Despite their team’s predicament, Southampton fans packed into one corner of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hadn’t lost their sense of humour, chanting “Que sera, sera… we’ll Coventry” because the clock ticked down on their keep within the high tier.
In a second of high quality at odds with their woeful marketing campaign, Fernandes chested down and fired previous Tottenham keeper Guglielmo Vicario within the ninetieth minute.
There was no late comeback as Wellington fouled Johnson and Mathys Tel transformed the penalty to substantiate Southampton’s demise.