Saints ‘will go down’ says Juric as Wolves near safety

After watching his struggling side lose to 17th-placed Wolves at St Mary’s, manager Ivan Juric predicted that Southampton would be expelled from the Premier League this year.

With nine games left, Saints are now 17 points clear of Vitor Pereira’s team, who have a much lower goal difference.

Southampton are the only team in English top-flight history to lose nine straight home games in a row, beating Wolves, Watford, and Birmingham in 1985-86, respectively, with the latter losing 24 of their 29 games this term.

Southampton’s fate is now sealed, according to data providers Opta, which leaves them with no chance of regaining the Championship right away.

Juric told BBC Match of the Day, “We will go down, but]we want to go down with more fight, more dignity, and more everything.”

“Today was another game,” according to the statement, “that suggests] we are not ready to take points.” There is always a missing item.

“There is a desire to play well and attack well.” The young men are determined to win and exert themselves. There are times when we feel inadequate, which is when we do.

If results are averted, Southampton’s fate might be sealed in early April, making them the third-earliest team to be relegated from the premier league after Derby County in 2007-08 and Huddersfield Town in 2018-19.

Wolves’ position in the Premier League is much less uncertain than it was last month.

In early February, Arsenal were placed in the relegation zone after losing at home 1-0, along with Leicester’s 2-1 victory over Tottenham.

However, as they approach the final international break of the season, fellow strugglers Ipswich and Leicester have a comfortable nine-point advantage thanks to a run of 10 points from six games.

Next month’s game will feature both Pereira’s men, who will travel to Portman Road on April 5 before hosting the Foxes in Molineux three weeks later.

Wolves currently have an 1.8% chance of dropping into the bottom three before the end of the season, according to Opta, but Pereira claims his team “cannot sleep” in their upcoming games.

The Portuguese told BBC Match of the Day, “We cannot feel safe in this league.” Losing points is the first blunder.

We must maintain control over our games because we cannot regulate the games of our opponents. We are very anxious about the upcoming game.

Ipswich needed to defeat high-flying Nottingham Forest in order to take points away from Pereira’s side because Leicester won’t be in action until Sunday evening.

However, the Tractor Boys were unbeatable, falling 4-2 to the Forest Boys, leaving them nine points adrift of safety.

Since winning 2-0 against Chelsea in late December, Kieran McKenna’s side have not won in the top flight.

With games against Bournemouth, Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle, and Brentford scheduled before a final-day encounter with West Ham, they must still face a difficult end to the season. They also have to play Wolves and Leicester.

Opta, who give Ipswich a 0. 79% chance of avoiding relegation, says the club’s only chance of surviving.

After Ipswich’s most recent reverse, McNaughton said, “It’s a home game gone and a big opportunity gone.” After the international break, we face Bournemouth and Wolves in quick succession. That must be the focus.

There is a significant gap between Ipswich and Wolves, according to McKenna. With six points to be gained when we return from the international break, “it’s possible to survive.”