Southampton 1-1 Crystal Palace: Premier League – Three Match Takeaways

Hard Graft Earns Saints a Crucial Relegation Buffer

After the evening’s result Southampton find themselves in a comparatively safe position of being four points clear of the drop zone. That is comparative safety for a side, who has either been in the bottom three, or inthrall to other results.

The barrier comes as Saints take on fellow strugglers, Burnley, Cardiff, and. Fulham There is also a trip to the Arsenal in there as well, but it might be stretching the definition of ‘strugglers’ to include them.

If Southampton can claim nine points from four games then not only should they stay up, but they would begin the joyous march towards mid-table obscurity.

SFC currently sit just eight points behind 11th place Leicester City. That might sound like a big margin, but an under-pressure Claude Puel faces the likes of, Manchester United, Tottenham, followed by Roy Hodgson’s men. The Foxes have a knack for turning up against the big boys, but they surely will not be picking up maximum points from those three contests.

To be frank, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s charges are unlikely to take maximum points from the forthcoming fixtures. The team may have improved, but you don’t go from relegation scrappers to Barcelona within the space of a month. Setting a target like 11th or 10th can still be a good indicator of how much the side has regained its Premier League footing in such a short time.