Southampton relegated to Championship after 11-year Premier League run

Southampton were relegated from the Premier League after losing 2-0 to Fulham on Saturday afternoon.

They needed a win to have any chance of beating the drop but second-half goals from Carlos Vinicius and Aleksandar Mitrovic in his first outing since serving an eight-game ban, crushed their hope.

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.

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.

This brings an end to Southampton’s 11 years in the Premier League. They included four successive top-eight finishes days under Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman. They had a widely admired setup and churned out talent for a carrion elite to feed off.

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.

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.