Southampton’s 11-year spell in the Premier League ended with a whimper as second-half goals from Carlos Vinicius’ and Aleksandar Mitrovic secured a first league double of the season for Fulham at St Mary’s.
With the fourth lowest home xG of the season – 0.25 – Southampton mustered just one shot on target as their top-flight stay ended in tame fashion.
The visitors took the lead in the 48th minute when Vinicius tapped home unmarked after Harrison Reed’s sliding challenge on Lyanco diverted the ball across goal.
Carlos Alcaraz thought he had broken the deadlock just 57 seconds earlier but his effort was ruled out for offside.
Mitrovic was a second-half substitute for Fulham on his return from an eight-game ban and just six minutes after his introduction, the Serbia striker rose to meet Harry Wilson’s cross to compound Southampton’s despair.
Kicking off eight points shy of safety, the hosts needed a win to keep any faint hopes alive – but there was an air of resignation among home supporters, who were heading for the exits long before the final whistle.
A hefty rebuild is going to be necessary and one that is far more focused than the calamitous January transfer window in which six players were signed but to very little effect.
“It’s disappointing but it’s a moment that has been coming,” said captain James Ward-Prowse, who has made 407 appearances for Southampton. “We’d put ourselves in a difficult position and I thought we did well to take it to this stage of the season.
“When these sorts of things happen, you go away individually and as a club and reflect on whether we did everything we could to achieve our goal. I don’t think we have and that’s a shame as I feel it is about having no regrets and leaving everything out there.
“Over the course of the season that has caught up with us. Ultimately that’s why we are where we are now.”
Fulham’s seventh away win of the Premier League season moves them up to ninth in the table and on track for a first top-half finish since 2012.
How Saints’ fate was sealed
When Southampton were last relegated from the Premier League in 2004/05, it took them seven years to win promotion back to the top flight. Championship football for the first time since 2012 looked a foregone conclusion after failure to beat Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Saints fans have had this sinking feeling for some time. They have been bottom for all but seven days since Christmas, stationed inside the bottom three since early November.
There was a sense of defeatism in the air despite Fulham’s rather anodyne dominance. The visitors, chasing a first win away to Southampton since the 1930s, saw a handball appeal waved away by referee Thomas Bramall after Wilson’s cross struck Lyanco.
Before the break, another well-worked move involving Wilson and Reed led to Willian’s shot at the far post being cleared off the line by Lyanco. By contrast, Saints offered virtually nothing.
This was supposed to be Southampton’s final stand, a last Saints salute in defiance, but one supporter was seen asleep in his seat, mercilessly interrupted by the sound of the half-time whistle.
According to the stats gurus at FiveThirtyEight, Southampton had a less than one per cent chance of survival heading into the weekend – but the light was put out three minutes after the restart.
Wilson spotted the run of Reed, and the industrious midfielder outfoxed Lyanco with his clearance as the sliding challenge deflected kindly for Vinicius to tap home a third goal in four games.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was in attendance for King Charles III’s coronation last weekend, was in the stands, but the Southampton resident witnessed a very contrasting mood. From joyous celebration to a wake.
Mitrovic replaced Vinicius just after the hour mark and just six minutes later, the striker showed no signs of rustiness as he outmuscled Kyle Walker-Peters to direct his header from Wilson’s cross beyond Alex McCarthy.
It has been a disastrous season for Southampton, from the sacking of Ralph Hasenhuttl to the employment of Nathan Jones to drafting in Selles, a charming but rookie manager who has fallen short in his rescue mission.
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