Southampton boss Ruben Selles admits it is getting more difficult to motivate players as relegation looms, but stressed everyone will continue to fight until the end of the season.
A 4-3 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Monday left the Saints on the brink of relegation, eight points adrift of safety at the bottom with just three games left.
A return to the Sky Bet Championship for the first time in since 2012 will be confirmed if Southampton fail to beat Fulham on Saturday or results elsewhere over the weekend go against them.
Despite the bleak outlook on the back of a 10-game winless run, Selles insists there is a determination to get the best possible results.
“It is our job and our privilege to fight until the very last minute and that is what we are going to do,” the Southampton boss said.
“We know it (relegation) is very close, but we still have our chances, it is not mathematically there.
“It is getting harder, of course, because the situation is not helping and it has been a tough week for us.
“We put all we have in against Nottingham Forest and we didn’t get the result that we wanted.
“Always when you get hit like that it is difficult to go to work the day after and to be super motivated, but I think we are in a good place that we can go tomorrow to compete and try to win the game.”
Selles accepts Saints could struggle to keep hold of key men like captain James Ward-Prowse in the Championship, but feels things are in place to be strong contenders for a swift promotion.
“I think the club has everything to bounce back very quick and be in the Premier League (again) the year after,” he said.
“We have our stadium with our fans that will support us, we have the organisation inside, the technical staff, the players and the future players, if it happens, that can help.
“We have a good structure with values, with philosophy and then it is just to put the things in place to go to the next chapter.”
Selles added at a press conference: “If we go to the Championship, of course we have players that the other teams in the Premier League will come and look for.
“It is not always easy to keep them for different reasons, in terms of budget or motivation for the player, so it is going to be (done on) a very individual case.”
Spanish coach Selles, who took over from Nathan Jones in mid-February on a deal until the end of the season, would like to stay and help the club rebuild.
“It is not for me to decide, but I would like to carry on in the Championship and bounce back to the Premier League in the year after,” he said.
“But right now we are just focusing on our daily job and trying to get the team being competitive tomorrow, and then we will talk about it if we need to talk about it at the end of the season.”
Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest: Saka shines on Arteta's landmark outing
Bukayo Saka’s inspired performance helped Arsenal return to winning ways in Mikel Arteta’s 250th game in charge as they swept aside Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Saturday.
Saka scored one and set up another to cap a fine individual display in what was an excellent team performance from the Gunners.
Having danced into the box to drill home a crisp finish for the opener, Saka turned provider for Thomas Partey early in the second half, with the midfielder curling the ball into the left-hand corner.
Ethan Nwaneri combined with fellow substitute Raheem Sterling to slide home his first Premier League goal and add further gloss late on.
Arsenal’s victory saw them go level with Chelsea on 22 points, but they remain in fourth place, while Forest drop down to sixth after back-to-back league defeats.
Data Debrief: Gunners reach landmark triumph
Arsenal have often relied on Saka to produce moments of magic since his integration into the first-team, and it seemed fitting that his display would help the Gunners to their 2,000th victory in English top-flight history.
Only Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (14) has been involved in more Premier League goals this season than Saka (12 – four goals, eight assists), with his impressive performance backed up by the match statistics.
The England international registered more shots (six) and more touches in the opposition box (13) than any of his team-mates, while his four chances created was a total only bettered by Martin Odegaard (six).
But there was also a special moment for substitute Nwaneri. At 17 years and 247 days, he is now Arsenal's second-youngest Premier League goalscorer, behind only Cesc Fabregas against Blackburn Rovers in August 2004 (17y 113d).
Chelsea not focused on Liverpool and Man City, insists Jackson after Leicester win
Chelsea are not getting carried away by talk of a title challenge following their 2-1 win over Leicester City, according to striker Nicolas Jackson.
Jackson netted his seventh Premier League goal of the season and was joined on the scoresheet by Enzo Fernandez on Saturday, as Enzo Maresca got one over on his former club at the King Power Stadium.
The result lifted the Blues to 22 points in third, just one adrift of champions Manchester City in second and six behind leaders Liverpool.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Jackson said: "We know the months of November and December have a lot of games, so we just try to recover for the next one and go again.
"I saw the danger, then the ball came to Enzo, he gave it to me and he finished. I'm just working in every game to try to help the team win."
Asked if Chelsea were now thinking of themselves as title challengers, he added: "No, we don't look at the teams in front of us, we just try to win every game."
Five of Jackson's goals this season have come on the road, the most of any player in the Premier League.
Since the start of May, only Erling Haaland (18) has bettered Jackson's 11 goals in the competition overall.
Leicester got a stoppage-time consolation through Jordan Ayew's penalty, though they earlier felt aggrieved not to be awarded a spot-kick when Stephy Mavididi was seemingly felled by Wesley Fofana in the 85th minute.
Boss Steve Cooper lamented that call, saying: "We've had some terrible luck with this referee. That continued today.
"There's also the game to talk about. Tough first half in terms of Chelsea territory and dominance with the ball. We gave away a poor goal. It should have been 0-0.
"Defensively we were generally okay. We need to be showing courage and belief. If we do that we can create chances and be a threat.
"The big moment is the first penalty not given, it's clear what happened there. The second one was offside [before VAR] and you see how onside he was.
"That was the story of the officials' game. You can speak to them after 30 minutes. I'm not sure if I will or won't."
Leicester City 1-2 Chelsea: Jackson and Fernandez mark a happy return for Maresca
Chelsea came through a nervy finish to beat Leicester City 2-1 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Enzo Maresca guided Leicester to promotion last season before switching allegiance to Chelsea, who returned to winning ways after two successive draws in the Premier League.
Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez were on the scoresheet for the Blues as Jordan Ayew’s stoppage-time penalty proved only to be a consolation for the hosts.
The visitors dominated early on and Jackson’s brilliant outside-of-the-foot finish past Mads Hermansen gave them the lead in the 15th minute.
Jackson was involved in Chelsea’s second, too, as his header was saved by Hermansen, only for Fernandez to nod home the rebound in the 75th minute.
Ayew made no mistake from the spot to set up a grandstand finale, but third-place Chelsea held firm to move to within a point of Manchester City, prior to the reigning Premier League champions’ clash with Tottenham later on Saturday, while Leicester dropped down to 16th.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
