Five points from 14 games – Could Southampton be the Premier League’s worst ever team?

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11 points lowest ever final total 

©TM/IMAGO

A familiar theme occurred at St Mary’s on Wednesday night. Not only were 10-man Southampton taken apart and beaten 5-1 by Chelsea, but they were the architects of their own downfall yet again, giving the ball away time and time again in their own defensive third. The frustration from the Southampton faithful was audible on the south-coast as fans grow ever-more frustrated at Russell Martin’s persistence to play out from the back. From the opening 14 games of the Premier League season, the Saints have just five points, with their only win coming in a narrow victory against relegation rivals Everton.

As illustrated in the graphic above, at this stage of the season (14 games in) only four teams have ever been worse off, and only two sides have had a lower points total than Southampton this season. Of those two sides with a worst points tally, one was their arch-rivals Portsmouth in 2009/10, when Pompey were given a nine-point deduction. It’s worrying times for Southampton, who were promoted last season via the play-offs. No team has ever had five points or less at this stage of the campaign and avoided relegation, and if the Saints don’t start picking up points soon, they could be in danger of becoming the Premier League’s worst ever team.

At this moment in time, if we take Southampton’s projected points total based on their current record of 0.36 points per game from their opening 14 matches, they would finish the season on 13.68 points, which we will round up to 14 points. If the Saints were to finish the campaign on 14 points from 38 matches, it would represent the second worst Premier League season in history; Derby County picked up just 11 points in the 2007/08 season. However, looking at their current form, there’s not much reason to believe that Southampton couldn’t go on to equal or even fall short of Derby’s 11 points.

Of the five points Southampton have accumulated so far this season, four of them have come against the bottom six. The only point Martin’s team have picked up against higher-positioned opponents this season was last Friday night’s 1-1 draw at Brighton. That game, in all fairness, was probably one of their best performances of the season, and the Saints were unlucky not to take all three points after having a winning-goal controversially disallowed. But Southampton failed to take that performance into their game against Chelsea, and looked back to their woeful worst.

The one shining light of Southampton’s season to date has undoubtedly been the emergence of 18-year-old Tyler Dibling. The teenager has been a revelation. He may have only scored one goal this term, but his dribbling has menaced even the meanest Premier League defences, and his performances have earned a lot of rumours linking him with some of England’s biggest clubs. Dibling currently has a market value of €5 million, but looks sure to receive a handsome market value upgrade in December’s Premier League market value update.

However, despite manager Martin showing plenty of trust bringing through Dibling, the trust towards Martin himself doesn’t appear reciprocated from all quarters of the Southampton fanbase. Following the loss to Chelsea, Martin was asked about the displeasure shown by the home crowd at St Marys, and responded: “I understand that people want their team to win and when they see such a big scoreline and a couple of goals we concede, I understand it.” Martin has stuck to his principles this season, consistently urging his team to play out from the back, press high and try to hold on to possession for as long as possible.

It certainly makes for entertaining football, and even earned praise from Pep Guardiola, who, after his team’s 1-0 win against the Saints, said, “It’s a good game to learn as a manager. I am going to learn a lot with Russell because they did really well.” However, some feel Martin’s stubbornness to stick to his principles might cost Southampton. The Saints were expected to go down before a ball was kicked, and perhaps weren’t ready for an instant return to the English top-flight, but they won’t want to be remembered as the Premier League’s worst ever team, and right now that’s a feasible possibility.