Southampton vs Bournemouth. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance30,414.
Report and free match highlights as Bournemouth take a large step towards Premier League survival with a 1-0 win at Southampton; Marcus Tavernier's second-half goal secured all three points; Saints now looking destined for the Championship, with Ruben Selles' side six points from safety
Friday 28 April 2023 06:18, UK
Southampton's slide towards relegation looks to be almost complete after Marcus Tavernier's second-half strike gave Bournemouth a 1-0 win at St Mary's.
Saints have now been cut adrift at the bottom of the Premier League, with Ruben Selles' side - who failed to display any urgency until the final minutes of such a crucial game - now six points from safety with just five matches still to play.
There was heartbreak for the home fans in the final moments when Che Adams' equaliser was disallowed for a marginal offside, and their reaction at full-time suggested they know their side's race is almost run.
There was delight in the away end though, with the result providing Bournemouth with a huge boost to their hopes of survival. Gary O'Neil's side are now 14th, seven points above the drop zone and likely needing just one more win to confirm their top-flight status for another season.
If this was a night that required all of Southampton’s fight, spirit and energy in a bid to inject life into their desperate attempt to escape relegation, somebody should have told Selles and his players.
The hosts edged a cagey opening 15 minutes, with Theo Walcott testing Neto with a low drive and Adam Armstrong glancing a shot against the post from a tight angle, but they were quickly overcome with nerves during a stormy night on the south coast.
The nerves emanating from the home crowd were audible and grew louder with every slip and misplaced pass, with Alex McCarthy - starting over Gavin Bazunu, who was dropped - failing to inspire confidence.
The goalkeeper - who was making his first Premier League start of the season - was relieved to see Matias Vina’s goal ruled out for a tight offside against Dominic Solanke, and the Cherries striker then flashed a shot over the bar after the Saints’ defence allowed him to wander into their penalty area.
The hosts were then struck with their first body blow at half-time when inspirational captain James Ward-Prowse failed to appear for the second half due to illness.
This prompted a curious decision from Selles, who replaced the midfielder with Lyanco, a centre-back, and switched to a five-player defence.
This only served to encourage Bournemouth, who swiftly hit their rivals with their second blow as Tavernier danced in from the right wing before guiding a shot past McCarthy and inside the far post.
Jan Bednarek then got away with a blatant handball before Tavernier - who has been hampered by injuries in 2023 - left the field with his head in his hands after suffering a hamstring issue.
Saints finally mustered some sort of fightback in the final minutes and thought they had grabbed an equaliser when Adams volleyed past Neto, only for VAR to reveal a fractional offside against the striker to dash his celebrations and likely end any hopes of St Mary’s hosting Premier League football again next season.
Ruben Selles vowed that Southampton will "fight until the very last point" as they attempt to avoid dropping into the Championship.
The manager said: "We are going to go and try to put a performance in every game to try to win and we are going to do it until the very end.
"I know it's only five games to play but we are professionals and we will fight until the very last point.
"I know now it's hard, I know the table is looking like it's a difficult one but we are going to give it a try."
Selles added: "It's a disappointing night. We came with the intention to put in a good performance and we obviously didn't.
"Some of the things that can go against us, they went against us. Even the offside goal, it's a couple of centimetres but it is offside. It was a hard night."
Ruben Selles made no attempts to hide his ambitions of taking on the Southampton job on a full-time basis after replacing the sacked Nathan Jones in February, and he backed up his words with a victory at Chelsea in his first game as boss.
But any uplift brought about by the former assistant manager was short-lived, with the home victory over Leicester last month the only one of the last 11 games Saints have won under the Spaniard.
Chief among Selles’ issues has been an inability to resolve Southampton’s lack of purpose in the first halves of games, with his side failing to score a first-half goal in 24 of their 33 Premier League games this season - the most in the top flight.
They again allowed the opening 45 minutes against Bournemouth to drift, failing to capitalise on their marginal superiority during the opening exchanges.
That was perhaps caused by a lack of confidence playing in front of their own supporters, and Southampton never really looked like improving on their dreadful home form, particularly with Selles persisting with a defensive set up in a game they had to win.
Saints have now lost 11 games at St Mary’s this season - their most in a single league season - and Selles will have to engineer a miracle during a tough final five games to fulfil his ambitions of remaining in the dugout.
Gary O'Neil praised his side as being "by far" the better side at St Mary's but insisted Bournemouth are not certain of survival despite their victory.
"It's a big win for us, of course," said O'Neil. "The performance was pleasing. I thought we were by far the better side today.
"The lads are recovering for Sunday [at home to Leeds]. There's no celebration, there's not talk of points tallies. I can easily see 36 points going down this year. We won't be resting."
Bournemouth effectively securing their Premier League status with multiple games left to play looked like a highly unlikely prospect back in August, when Scott Parker was sacked as manager after branding his squad as not good enough to compete in the top flight following a 9-0 humiliation at Liverpool.
Gary O’Neil’s appointment - initially on an interim basis - failed to spark too much excitement, but he did enough to earn the job permanently and is now within touching distance of keeping Bournemouth up, with something left to spare.
Key to O’Neil’s success have been Dominic Solanke and Marcus Tavernier, with the former setting up the latter for the game’s only goal at Southampton.
Solanke may not be troubling the top of the Premier League goal-scoring charts, but his 12 goal involvements this season are five more than he managed in three previous top-flight seasons in the combined - a sign of the progress he has made under O’Neil.
As for Tavernier, the versatile 24-year-old has eight goal involvements in his last seven starts in the Premier League, with his latest strike at St Mary’s coming from right wing-back.
O’Neil’s ability to make the most of what he’s got in his Cherries squad has made a mockery of Parker’s early-season predictions and made the decision to promote him from his role as assistant look shrewd.
Southampton's next game is at Newcastle on Sunday - kick-off 2pm. Saints then travel to Nottingham Forest - another side battling against relegation - on Monday May 8, live on Sky Sports - kick-off 8pm.
Bournemouth's next outing is a crucial home game against relegation-threatened Leeds on Sunday - kick-off 2pm. The Cherries then host Chelsea on Saturday May 6 - kick-off 3pm.
April 30: Newcastle (A) - Premier League, kick-off 2pm
May 8: Nottingham Forest (A) - Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports
May 13: Fulham (H) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 21: Brighton (A) - Premier League, kick-off 2pm
May 28: Liverpool (H) - Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
April 30: Leeds (H) - Premier League, kick-off 2pm
May 6: Chelsea (H) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 13: Crystal Palace (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 20: Manchester United (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 28: Everton (A) - Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
