Amid forlorn hope, Southampton’s simple formula was to win or go down. Rishi Sunak was lending moral support from the executive seats but the prime minister will be watching his beloved Saints in next season’s EFL Championship, a place very rarely associated with economic growth and stable governance.
Carlos Vinícius’s goal and a comeback strike from Aleksandar Mitrovic brought to an end Southampton’s 11 years in the Premier League, including four successive top-eight finishes, salad days under Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman, when Saints’ widely admired setup churned out talent for a carrion elite to feed off.