[Trending News] Southampton 1-3 Bournemouth: Cherries up to fifth in Premier League

The Saints have won only once at home in the league this season – 1-0 against Everton in November.

After Leicester lost 2-0 to Arsenal earlier on Saturday, Ivan Juric’s team had the opportunity to cut the gap between them and the Foxes to five points and failed to take it – as has been the case regularly in 2024-25.

Despite Sulemana’s goal, which showed great quality, Saints were toothless once more.

Matheus Fernandes desperately looked to create, but the home side were largely limited to speculative shots from the edge of the box.

Paul Onuachu struggled to hold the ball up against Bournemouth’s defenders, other than his assist for Sulemana, and when substitute Cameron Archer found space in behind late on he failed to beat keeper Kepa.

Southampton’s win at relegation rivals Ipswich two weeks ago appeared to breathe new life into Juric’s team, but that optimism has since dissipated in a fortnight in which they were also eliminated from the FA Cup by Championship side Burnley.

Only Sheffield United in 1975-76 have accrued fewer points after 25 top-flight games than Southampton’s nine in 2024-25, but Juric insists the struggles of his side are not down to a lack of effort.

“We have good spirit and we scored the goal and created opportunities and played like I want my team to play, with lots of aggression and winning the duels and flair but it wasn’t enough,” he said.

“We are in a bad situation and there were some positives but not enough to take points in the Premier League.

“The players are giving 100%. I had a feeling that they have given the maximum.

“We will try [to stay up]. While we have the chance, we will try.”