Bottom side Southampton’s 2-1 midweek FA Cup loss to Grimsby represented a new low in a traumatic season, as Rubén Sellés endured the ultimate false start on his long-awaited bow at St Mary’s Stadium.
Now he and his men must quickly move on, in the hope that they can add to what is currently a 50% success rate in opening Premier League (PL) home games for new permanent coaches appointed during this season (W4, D1, L3).
A further addition to the win column looks crucial to the Saints’ survival hopes, though the fact they kick off after 119 days in the drop zone is sure to dent confidence.
That pales in comparison to the unbroken 257 days spent there in 1998/99, when they still survived after going unbeaten across their final nine PL home games.
They’ll do well to recreate that consistency though considering Southampton are the only side (of 98) across Europe’s top five leagues without a single point in the five-game home form table.
This can only inspire Leicester City, though they may themselves experience a change of coach soon, with Brendan Rodgers under fresh scrutiny after his 2021 FA Cup-winning side also exited the competition to a lower-league club in midweek, falling to a 2-1 defeat against Blackburn.
That itself was preceded by two successive defeats to-nil too, making a nervy start seem likely, as the Foxes look to avoid a first league double of losses to the Saints in any tier since 2007/08.
But on a positive note, Leicester are unbeaten in five trips to St Mary’s Stadium (W3, D2), with the centrepoint of that run being a PL record-equalling 9-0 victory in October 2019.
However, that was an anomaly for negative reasons as well, because it marks the Foxes’ only away shutout against Southampton during their current PL stay (2014/15-present).
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