Southampton FC were relegated on Sunday after a 2-0 defeat by Tottenham, becoming the first team in Premier League history to suffer the earliest relegation.
Brennan Johnson struck twice in the first half, and Mateus Fernandes’s late reply was too late to stop bottom-of-the-table Southampton from crashing back to the Championship.
Southampton were relegated with seven matches still to play.
Ipswich and Derby were relegated with six games left in 1994-95 and 2007-08 respectively.
Ivan Juric’s side are also still one shy of matching Derby’s 2007-08 record low Premier League total points of 11.
Juric, whose team are without a win in their last seven league matches, admitted this week that avoiding the record low points tally is Southampton’s only target for the rest of their dismal season.
Southampton were pushed to the brink of relegation when fourth-bottom Wolves came from behind to beat Ipswich 2-1 on Saturday, leaving Saints 22 points from safety.
Their slide down to the second tier was confirmed 315 days after they clinched promotion by beating Leeds in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Russell Martin was architect of Southampton’s success in the Championship with an attacking approach, but his insistence on sticking to those tactics backfired badly in the top flight.
Martin was sacked in December after a 5-0 defeat against Tottenham left Southampton bottom of the table with just five points from 16 games.
Former Roma boss Juric was hired to replace Martin on an 18-month contract, but the Croatian was unable to save Southampton from going down with a whimper.
