ON Saturday afternoon, Saints gave their survival hopes a much-needed shot in the arm with a massive - if surprising - 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.
Inspired by yet another James Ward-Prowse free-kick masterclass, Saints claimed just their second win in the last 11 Premier League games and just their fifth win of the season.
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Coming in Ruben Selles’s first match in charge - on an interim basis - Saints had to dig deep to withstand a late Chelsea barrage and get over the line to take all three points.
While the victory wasn’t enough to take Saints off of the foot of the table, it provides a massive emotional boost to the entire club and considering the results around the league, keeps Selles’s side in with a real chance of staving off relegation.
Here’s how the relegation battle looks with 15 games left to play…
20th. Saints - 18 points
Chelsea 0-1 Saints
As discussed, it was a huge weekend for Saints as they shocked much of the football world to earn a statement win at Stamford Bridge in the first game following Nathan Jones’s sacking.
The task now will be for Selles and his team to keep that momentum going next Saturday when they face Leeds United in a seismic six-pointer at Elland Road. That has been the challenge thus far this season, with Saints failing to win the next game following each of their four previous league wins.
Saints started the weekend four points adrift of safety and while results around the league weren’t particularly kind, they have now cut that deficit to three.
Next Five:
Leeds United (A)
Leicester City (H)
Manchester United (A)
Brentford (H)
Tottenham Hotspur (H)
19th. Leeds United - 19 points
Everton 1-0 Leeds United
Next week’s opponents for Saints, Leeds continued their slide down the table with defeat on Saturday to relegation-rivals Everton.
Seamus Coleman notched the only goal of the game in the 64th minute for the Toffees and consigned Leeds to their fourth defeat in six matches. They have also now failed to win any of their most recent ten in the Premier League.
Following Jesse Marsch’s sacking earlier this month, Leeds went to Old Trafford and claimed a 2-2 draw but have since lost back-to-back games without scoring a goal. Led by interim manager Michael Skubala, Saints will be hoping to inflict more pain on Leeds this coming Saturday.
Next Five:
Saints (H)
Chelsea (A)
Brighton & Hove Albion (H)
Wolves (A)
Arsenal (A)
18th. West Ham United - 20 points
Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 West Ham United
Finishing 7th in the Premier League table last season, West Ham have found things far tougher this time around as they sit in the relegation zone after 23 games.
The Hammers had seemingly started to turn a corner in recent weeks with just one defeat in their previous five but they are mired right back in trouble after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Spurs.
Emerson Royal and Heung-min Son notched in the second half to beat David Moyes’s side and leave West Ham two points clear of Saints and one point adrift of safety. They will have a chance to get back on track next week when they host Nottingham Forest.
Next Five:
Nottingham Forest (H)
Brighton & Hove Albion (A)
Aston Villa (H)
Manchester City (A)
Saints (H)
17th. Bournemouth - 21 points
Wolves 0-1 Bournemouth
An impressive weekend for the South Coast, Bournemouth earned a huge win in their race for survival, beating Wolves 1-0 thanks to Marcus Tavernier’s strike shortly after half time.
Four consecutive league defeats followed the World Cup break for Bournemouth but things have slowly been improving in recent weeks with a pair of draws in three games leading up to Saturday’s clash with Wolves.
And now they have backed up that promise with concrete rewards in the form of three gigantic points. The result takes the Cherries out of the relegation zone for the time being, three points ahead of Saints.
Next up, Gary O’Neil’s side face the mammoth challenge of hosting Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Next Five:
Manchester City (H)
Arsenal (A)
Liverpool (H)
Aston Villa (A)
Fulham (H)
16th. Everton - 21 points
Everton 1-0 Leeds United
Another side who started the day in the relegation, Everton managed to leapfrog their weekend’s foes by beating Leeds to elevate themselves above the drop-zone.
It’s been an encouraging few weeks around Goodison Park with the appointment of Sean Dyche seemingly reigniting Everton’s disastrous campaign.
Since the former Burnley boss’s arrival, Everton have taken six points from three games and kept two clean sheets. On Saturday, it was Coleman’s somewhat fortuitous cross that beat Ilan Meslier in the Leeds net and handed the Toffees a foothold in the battle to stave off the drop.
Dyche will be hoping to see that momentum continue with a home tie against Aston Villa.
Next Five:
Aston Villa (H)
Arsenal (A)
Nottingham Forest (A)
Brentford (H)
Chelsea (A)
15th. Wolves - 23 points
Wolves followed last weekend’s comeback victory at St Mary’s with a damaging defeat against Bournemouth to place them back into the relegation conversation.
In some ways, it will make Saints’ failure in Nathan Jones’s final game hurt even more, but on a positive note, the defeat keeps Julen Lopategui’s side just about within their reach.
Sitting three points clear of the relegation zone and five points ahead of Saints, Wolves should have enough to stay up but inconsistent form in recent weeks has made that no sure thing.
They head to Craven Cottage and Anfield in their next two Premier League matches before hosting Tottenham Hotspur in a tough upcoming run of fixtures.
Next Five:
Fulham (A)
Liverpool (A)
Tottenham Hotspur (H)
Newcastle United (A)
Leeds United (H)
14th. Leicester City 24 points
Manchester United 3-0 Leicester City
While Brendan Rodgers’ side should have too much quality to seriously partake in this season’s relegation battle, they aren’t making things easy for themselves.
Inconsistency has hampered Leicester all season with Sunday’s heavy defeat coming less than a week after they had swept aside Spurs.
The defeat marked their first loss since mid-January to curtail a three-game unbeaten run to leave the Foxes four points clear of the drop-zone and six ahead of Saints.
Leicester host league-leaders Arsenal next before travelling to St Mary’s for another major clash in Saints’ season on the 4th of March.
Next Five:
Arsenal (H)
Saints (A)
Chelsea (H)
Brentford (A)
Crystal Palace (A)
13th. Nottingham Forest - 25 points
Nottingham Forest 1-1 Manchester City
An impressive run of form has seen Forest start to pull away from the relegation battle since the World Cup break and they continued that trend on Saturday with a surprise 1-1 draw against Man City.
The reigning champions took the lead at the City Ground and dominated the match to the tune of 73% possession and 23 shots to four but they failed to kill the game. That allowed just enough of an opening for Chris Wood to step up and equalise in the 84th minute.
Steve Cooper’s side have now lost just twice in their last ten Premier League matches and will have a chance to keep their positive run going in the next two weeks with games against West Ham and Everton. Of course, defeats in those could see the newly promoted side fall right back into the relegation mix.
Next Five:
West Ham United (A)
Everton (H)
Tottenham Hotspur (A)
Newcastle (H)
Wolves (H)
With 15 games left to play and Saints three points adrift of safety, can you see them staying up?
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