Southampton relegated after Vinícius and Mitrovic fire Fulham to victory

13-May-2023 16:06:04 | The Guardian

Amid forlorn hope, Southampton’s simple formula was to win or go down. Rishi Sunak was lending moral support from the executive seats, but the prime minister will be watching his beloved Saints in next season’s EFL Championship, a place very rarely associated with economic growth and stable governance.

Carlos Vinícius’s goal, early in the second half, and a comeback strike from Aleksandar Mitrovic brought to an end Southampton’s 11 years in the Premier League. They included four successive top-eight finishes and salad days under Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman, when Saints had a widely admired setup and churned out talent for a carrion elite to feed off.