Saints 'will go down' says Juric as Wolves near safety

Manager Ivan Juric said Southampton will be relegated from the Premier League this season after watching his beleaguered side lose at home to 17th-placed Wolves at St Mary's.

The 2-1 defeat leaves Saints 17 points behind Vitor Pereira's team - and with a vastly inferior goal difference - with nine games left.

Southampton have now lost 24 of their 29 games this term and are only the fourth side in English top-flight history to lose nine consecutive home games in the same season, after Birmingham in 1985-86, Wolves in 2011-12 and Watford in 2021-22.

Data suppliers Opta also believe Southampton's fate is sealed, giving them a 0% chance of avoiding an immediate return to the Championship.

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

"Today was another game [that suggests] we are not ready to take points. There is always something missing.

"The will to play well and to attack is there. The lads want to win and do their best. There are moments when we are not good enough, and that's it."

Southampton's fate could be sealed in early April if results go against them, which would make them the third-earliest side to be relegated from the top flight after Derby County in 2007-08 and Huddersfield Town in 2018-19.

They still need two more points to match Derby's all-time Premier League low of 11 from 17 years ago.

As for Wolves, their Premier League status is much less precarious than last month.

A 1-0 home defeat by Arsenal, coupled with Leicester's 2-1 win at Tottenham, left them in the relegation zone in early February.

However, a run of 10 points from six games since has given them a comfortable nine-point cushion over fellow strugglers Ipswich and Leicester heading into the final international break of the season.

Pereira's side play both teams next month, travelling to Portman Road on 5 April before welcoming the Foxes to Molineux three weeks later.

According to Opta, Wolves' chances of being sucked back into the bottom three before the end of the season now stand at 1.8% - but Pereira says his team "cannot sleep" in their upcoming fixtures.

"In this league, we cannot feel safe," the Portuguese told BBC Match of the Day. "The first mistake is to lose points.

"We must control our games because we cannot control our opponents' games. The next match is very important for us.

"We need to do our work for our supporters, who were fantastic again [at St Mary's]."

With Leicester not in action until Sunday evening, Ipswich needed to beat high-flying Nottingham Forest and hope Southampton took points off Pereira's team.

The Tractor Boys were no match for Forest however, slipping to a 4-2 defeat which leaves them nine points adrift of safety.

Kieran McKenna's side have not won in the top flight since defeating Chelsea 2-0 in late December, 10 matches ago.

They still have to play Wolves and Leicester but face a tricky end to the season, with games against Bournemouth, Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle and Brentford to come before a final-day meeting with West Ham.

Ipswich's hopes of avoiding relegation are all but over according to Opta, who give them just a 0.79% chance of escaping the drop.

"It's a home game gone and a big opportunity gone," McKenna said after Ipswich's latest reverse. "We know we have two games in quick succession after the international break when we play Bournemouth and Wolves. The focus has to go to that.

"There's a pretty big gap there [between Ipswich and Wolves]," McKenna told Sky Sports. "It's possible [to survive], with six points to play for when we come back from the international break.

"We're running out of games. We need to take points soon - but we're certainly not going to give up hope or stop fighting until the last game is done."