Southampton on the brink after Marcus Tavernier fires Bournemouth to victory

The big screens intermittently advertising tickets for Southampton’s season finale appeared wishful thinking. Southampton remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League after an agonising defeat at home to Bournemouth extended their winless run to eight matches.

Was this the night Southampton finally ran out of lives? Mathematically they are still in with a shout but with five games to play they are six points from safety. At this rate, Southampton will be relegated to the Championship long before they host Liverpool on the final day of a miserable campaign.

Marcus Tavernier scored the only goal of the game to hoist Bournemouth into 14th. Southampton were lifeless but would have rescued a point had Che Adams not strayed a toenail offside before finding the net with a minute of normal time to play. Adams could not believe his luck.

As hard as it may be for the locals to stomach, how Southampton must wish they were in Bournemouth’s shoes. Bournemouth, now seven points above the bottom three, are on the verge of securing their top-flight status. Southampton, who visit Newcastle on Sunday, look doomed.

The noises from Rubén Sellés after Southampton had to settle for a draw at Arsenal were unsurprisingly upbeat but failure to see out a precious victory only meant this game doubled in significance.

Sellés said his team’s performance at the Emirates Stadium was proof that his side are still alive and kicking, and capable of giving anyone a bloody nose, but there is no doubt that a healthy chunk of away fans left north London resigned to trips to Hull and Stoke next season.

There were large pockets of empty seats in the home areas and supporters appear to be voting with their feet. Perhaps a mitigating factor was the filthy