Southampton have long feared breaking Derby County's unwanted Premier League points record, but the Saints could write another undesirable chapter of top-flight history with a fatal loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Neither Russell Martin nor Ivan Juric have been able to halt Southampton's seemingly inevitable slide back down to the Championship, which edged ever closer courtesy of an excruciating midweek result.
Mere moments away from getting the better of Crystal Palace thanks to a Paul Onuachu header, the Saints were undone by an injury-time Matheus Franca equaliser, which cruelly denied them a third win of the Premier League season.
Taking away a point from that fixture at least snapped Southampton's six-game losing sequence, not that it truly matters in the grand scheme of things, as the club are now on the cusp of an unprecedented relegation.
How can Southampton be relegated this weekend?
© Imago
Sitting dead last in the Premier League table with a paltry 10 points to their name, Southampton are a whopping 19 points below Wolverhampton Wanderers with just eight games - and therefore 24 points - left to play for.
If Wolves manage to get the better of Ipswich Town on Saturday, Southampton will officially drop back down to the Championship if they are beaten by Tottenham in Sunday's fixture, as they would then be 22 points below 17th place with just 21 on offer.
Should Wolves win and Southampton draw, the 21-point deficit would be mathematically possible to make up, but Juric's side would need to win all their remaining games and pray for a miracle set of results to go their way elsewhere.
Lose on Sunday, and the great escape is officially over with seven games remaining, which would mark the earliest-ever relegation from the Premier League in gameweek 31.
The current 'record' for the earliest demotion from the competition is jointly-held by Derby County (2007-08) and Huddersfield Town (2018-19), both of whom were condemned to the drop in gameweek 32 with six games remaining.
As Saints fans have been reminded of all too often, their side will go down with the lowest points total in history if they lose all their outstanding matches, currently sitting one below Derby's 11 from the 2007-08 campaign.
Juric: 'Southampton's goal is to not be the worst'
© Imago
Juric has already resigned his side to playing Championship football in 2025-26, and speaking to reporters in Friday's press conference, he outlined his sole intention for the remainder of the campaign.
Quizzed on the prospect of relegation this weekend, he replied: "I don't think about that anymore. Our goal has to be not be the worst team," before being asked whether he expects to stay on next season.
"At this moment I don't know. I have to speak with the club and see. Every coach has his vision and I think the club has to do everything they can to agree with the coach and then they go the same way."
The Saints boss also confirmed that Lesley Ugochukwu and Ryan Manning are fine to feature despite suffering injuries in midweek, but Onuachu is a doubt with an ankle problem.
Ben Knapton
