Though Southampton arguably face the easiest run-in of the three teams closest to the drop
zone, they remain inconsistent. Capable of losing to Cardiff one week and beating Arsenal
the next, Southampton’s erraticism means that they are currently identified in relegation
outright markets as the second-most vulnerable of the teams currently with odds against their
relegation.
Ultimately, this means that they will likely secure Premier League survival belatedly if they
do. Since the start of 2019, their relegation odds across the most reputable bookmakers have
lengthened more than they have dropped, but the older members of the club’s long-suffering
fanbase are already familiar with the tension that a relegation battle brings.
Southampton’s first brush with a last-day Premier League survival fight took place at the end
of the 1993/94 season:
Southampton would avoid relegation on the final day twice more that decade, doing so in
1996 and 1999, thanks mainly to Matthew Le Tissier’s loyalty and prowess in midfield.
Le Tissier himself has publicly backed Hasenhuttl, and just a couple of wins in the next
month would change the entire complexion of the battle ahead and keep Cardiff as odds-on
favorites to join Huddersfield and Fulham in the Championship.
However, it is all down to the Saints XI to impose themselves and get the results that will
lengthen their relegation odds across the online bookmakers that thrive on a reputation for
good value and generosity.
Staying up? Southampton’s victory over Tottenham gets full treatment from pundits.
Most Saints fans will agree that players of Le Tissier’s calibre only stick with Southampton
once a generation. However, the turn of the year has seen James Ward-Prowse step up his
overall game in the same position, and vital strikes against Everton and Tottenham – the latter
of which travelled to St Mary’s as bookmaker’s universal favourites – during the winter have
established him as a figure of reliability.
In the strikers department, Danny Ings first season on the South Coast has been relatively
fruitful. However, single-handedly saving the Saints is beyond him, and at present, it is
difficult to identify any other figures who will step up to the plate when all seems lost.
