Southampton’s return to the Premier League will last just one season after they were relegated on Sunday afternoon.
The Saints have been staring at the drop for a long time and their fate was sealed with a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham in north London.
A first-half double from Brennan Johnson put Spurs 2-0 ahead before Mateus Fernandes pulled one back on 90 minutes. However, a Mathys Tel penalty deep into stoppage time completed the scoreline.
The result sees Southampton collect an unwanted record – as they became the first team to be relegated with seven games still to play.
Their relegation in matchweek 31 means they beat the record previously jointly held by Ipswich Town (1994-95) and Derby County (2007-08) – who dropped down to the second tier with six fixtures remaining. Their relegations were confirmed with six fixtures remaining in 1994-95 and 2007-08 respectively.
Ivan Juric’s men are also trying to avoid the record of having the lowest-ever points tally in a Premier League season which currently belongs to Derby (11). Southampton have 10 points.
Ivan Juric hopeful for Southampton’s future despite relegation
Reflecting on their relegation, Juric said: ‘We know it’s a tough moment, a bad moment. But in another way I think the future of Southampton will be great, with the fans.
‘We are relegated but they have showed a lot to their club, to the players they have, and I think it has to be really motivating for everybody to create something really good – much stronger than we created this year.
‘I arrived from another world – Italy, Spain, Croatia – it’s completely the other mentality. It’s something great, respect. Our fans, all this season, a bad season, they were exceptional.
‘We are disappointed. It has to be a big school for everything – for us, for me, for the players, for the club – to see what we did wrong.
‘What went wrong? Did we give everything that we can in this one year, or can we do some things better? It has to be a big school for everybody.’
