After Southampton, which team is next?

By Adeola Omotola Last updated May 14, 2023

Southampton Football Club has become the first team to officially relegate from the English Premier League (EPL) to the second tier, Championship in the 2022/23 season.

The Saints have spent at least a decade in the elite football competition. The sad end of the club didn’t come as a surprise. The club has sold several of its key and talented players and pocketed the money in most cases.

It recorded just 24 points in 36 games played so far. The Saints were at home today to host Fulham. A victory in the game could have helped the team to still hold some hope of retaining a place in the league next season.

Southampton sacked its coach when it looked like it was going south as its name and location imply. That couldn’t save the demoted club. Fulham scored in both half to send the hosts out of the league.

The side actually put up some tough fight against the big clubs in the league. It crashed Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup and held both Manchester United and Arsenal to draw in the English Premier League. That was the best the side could do.

Selles’ team did all it could on Monday when they travelled to Nottingham Forest, another struggling side, in London. Forest held on with its razor thin victory over the Saints.

A prosperous team, Southampton produced the likes of Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dyik, who won all trophies with Liverpool. The team can also point at former Rangers’ Joe Aribo, captain James Ward-Prowse, Theo Walcott, among others.

It’s not unclear which team would join the list of relegated teams this season. It’s still a battle among Leeds United, which held UCL-bound Newcastle United today, Leicester City, which faces another UEFA Champions League ambitious Liverpool on Monday and Everton that will look forward to beating league leaders Manchester City.

Nottingham Forest can actually heave a sigh of relief with its one point at Stamford Bridge. Southampton looked far more viable at the start of the season. Yet it is over (perhaps for now) for the Saints.