Koeman fears Southampton relegation battle

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has concerns about his team’s form after five losses in their last six games.

Koeman and Co. travel to Tottenham on Saturday, with Southampton without a win since November 7 in all competitions.

Southampton’s trip to White Hart Lane is followed by a fixture against West Ham and Koeman said failure to pick up results could see his side sucked into a relegation battle.

“That’s all about what happens in the next coming weeks. I’m always positive, I think we will get good results in the next couple of weeks, but if we don’t get wins in the next couple of weeks then we’re close to the rest of the teams who maybe are now struggling against relegation,” Koeman said.

“I think to win the title, to win the Premier League [this season], you don’t need that number of points what normally you need, and maybe that’s the same in the bottom of the league, relegation is more teams because we are so close to each other in the table.

“If you get a good run … two weeks ago we had a 1-1 with Aston Villa. It’s always ‘if,’ but with two points more, we could have gone fifth in the table and everybody would have been laughing. Everybody’s worried, and that’s in two weeks, and that’s the Premier League.

“In two weeks you can be there, in which position you like to be, but if you don’t win and you get three in a row that you lose, then it’s a different world.”

Although Koeman fears a potential relegation slog, he believes Southampton have enough quality to beat the drop.

“I think [we are too good for relegation], yes, because we have competition in our squad, we are not the team in that position, but if you stay close, that’s all about confidence, about belief, spirit in the team, and you see Chelsea,” Koeman said.

“It’s difficult to come out of that situation. Everybody was expecting six, seven weeks ago, ‘Chelsea will come up,’ and everybody was sure about that, but now they are struggling, and that means that’s difficult to change that situation because everybody can improve, and everybody is strong, and every game is a difficult one, and it’s no 4-0, it’s no 5-1, it’s all 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, and that’s difficult.

“That can happen also for Southampton.”