The former Sunderland man returned from injury this weekend but suffered relegation during his first game back

Former Sunderland striker Ross Stewart made it onto the pitch as Southampton’s relegation to the Championship was confirmed against Tottenham this weekend.

The Saints have set an unfortunate Premier League milestone by becoming the first club to be relegated with seven games remaining in the season. Their drop to the Championship was confirmed following a 3-1 defeat away to Tottenham

The early relegation surpasses the previous record shared by Ipswich Town and Derby County, who both saw their fates sealed with six matches left in the 1994-95 and 2007-08 campaigns respectively. Adding to their woes, Southampton now face the possibility of ending the season with the lowest points total ever recorded in the Premier League.

Stewart joined the Saints from Sunderland in 2023 for approximately £10million despite being injured at the time, has had a challenging stint with the club, making only 10 appearances thus far. The striker had returned for the club’s under-21 side earlier this year but was withdrawn from youth duties after suffering a minor set-back.

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Stewart's most recent major set-back occurred in October when he was forced to leave the pitch after just 27 minutes of his first start for Southampton due to an injury. Before that, he had come off the bench four times under ex-manager Russell Martin before getting the nod to start against Arsenal, only to suffer another injury blow. However, the former Sunderland striker returned to action against Tottenham as Southampton’s relegation was confirmed.

“A new experience. I said to the players, they have to be really thankful they have fans like this. It was something incredible the way they love their team, their squad, even the players that we are relegated (with), incredible for me,” Southampton manager Ivan Juric said after the game.

“This one I can say is something incredible. They show love in this moment, it is great English culture, great Southampton culture, it is incredible. It is clear if your last two years in the Premier League, you don’t compete and are relegated too easy then it means there are huge problems in lots of situations.

“I think now is a really important moment to understand all the mistakes the club (made) in the last three or four years and start to create something really good because these fans deserve it. “The goal has to be that, to avoid being the worst team in Premier League history.

“I am manager of Southampton and it is easy to say, ‘now I want to go’ – we have to keep working. We owe that to our fans and this is our goal. It is really good to be a coach in the Premier League and if I took the long way to come back here, I am ready.

“What I notice the most in these three or four months I am here is a completely different physicality between us and the other teams in the Premier League. I think the same thing happened to Leicester and Ipswich.”

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