‘We had all written them off’: Jamie Carragher flips his opinion on Southampton’s survival hopes and insists the Premier League strugglers need just one win to ‘put themselves right in the mix’ after their sensational 3-3 draw against Arsenal
- Jamie Carragher believes Southampton can get off the bottom of the table
- The former Liverpool defender was impressed by their 3-3 draw with Arsenal
- Southampton stunned the Emirates to initially lead before being pegged back
Jamie Carragher has given Southampton fans hope that they might be able to pull of one of the Premier League’s great relegation escapes after their sensational 3-3 draw against league leaders Arsenal on Friday.
Practically nobody gave them a chance when they rocked up at the Emirates to kick-off the weekend’s Premier League action, as Carragher admitted himself when speaking to Saints boss Ruben Selles after the match.
Carragher flipped his pre-game opinion to state that survival is possible if Southampton can win their next game to put themselves ‘right in the mix’ after an impressive performance saw the visitors score after just 27 seconds and go on to lead 3-1 before being pegged back late on.
‘We had all written them off, but I just feel they need one win to put them right in the mix again,’ said Carragher on Sky Sports.
‘It was a brilliant interview, I thought his answer about going to back five was brilliant, both full-backs were on yellows, they were then getting tighter to people and for a lot of second half I didn’t think Arsenal would score.
Southampton rallied to at the Emirates to score three goals against the league leaders
Southampton’s Duje Caleta-Car (right heading ball) scores his side’s third goal at the Emirates
Former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott (middle) initially made it two-nil in the first-half
‘It felt like every time Arsenal put the ball into box was only Jesus was there, credit to how they setup,’ he added.
Friday’s result see’s Southampton remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table, but a hugely unified performance against the title-chasing Gunners has inspired hope in their ranks and worry amongst their relegation competitors.
The south coast outfit are just three points adrift of safety but face the difficult prospect of all the teams around them maintaining a game in hand on the run-in to the weekend’s fixtures.
However, they face two other relegation candidates in Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest during their final six matches that could see the race for the bottom three head to the final day of the season.
A turbulent season has seen the club’s pool of players work under three different managers. Long-term head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl started the season in the dugout but eventually lost his role following a poor run of results, former Luton boss Nathan Jones failed in his first Premier League role, before Spaniard, Selles was handed the reigns until the end of the season.
