Hasenhuttl plans to rebuild at Southampton after engineering escape

Ralph Hasenhuttl quickly turned his thoughts to next season after Southampton confirmed their Premier League status with two games remaining on Saturday.

While Southampton had to settle for a 3-3 draw at home with Bournemouth despite twice holding the lead, Cardiff City’s 1-0 defeat at Fulham means the Saints are certain to be in the top flight for another campaign.

They were sitting in the relegation places and had managed just one league win when Hasenhuttl took charge at the end of last year, yet the Austrian has impressively engineered a route to safety in his time at St Mary’s Stadium.

Now the former RB Leipzig boss is planning for a rebuild of his squad in the transfer window, with the aim to make sure the south-coast club are not in the same situation again next year.

“It was a crazy game – a tremendous match. We’re very happy now – we deserve this,” Hasenhuttl told BBC Sport.

“We had to take a lot of points, it’s amazing, and to be clear two games before the end is fantastic for us.

“We invested a lot in this time, learned a lot and showed how beautiful we can play.

“This summer we will rebuild. We can start planning for next year tomorrow and the target is to get 40 points next season earlier than this year. A bit less stress would be nice.

“I’m very happy to be in the best league in the world. Every weekend is a tremendous experience. Every day I enjoy this job very much. It’s everything I expected from the Premier League.”

1000 – Matt Targett has scored the 1000th @premierleague goal of 2018-19; this is the second earliest date the 1000th goal has been scored in a Premier League season, after April 1st in 1994-95. Chiliad.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 27, 2019

Southampton dominated the early stages and scored through Shane Long but Bournemouth improved after a tactical switch by Eddie Howe, wrestling control to lead 2-1 at the break.

Callum Wilson struck twice for Bournemouth but wasted a chance to complete his hat-trick in the closing minutes, failing to beat Southampton goalkeeper Angus Gunn when clean through.

“I think after 20 minutes we’d have done anything for that point, but ask me after 95 minutes, I’m maybe not so happy,” Howe told Bournemouth’s official website.

“We obviously had a big chance at the end when Callum went through, but the fighting characteristics of the team were back.

“We’ve not come back from losing positions enough this season and to do that was a great sign.”