RALPH Hasenhuttl admitted Premier League teams may need “40 or more points” to be safe from relegation this season, while Saints have 40 with just three matches to go. A survival dogfight is happening in the division right below 15th-placed Saints, involving Burnley, Leeds United and Everton. After just one win in nine Premier League matches, Hasenhuttl was asked if they are safe from the drop.
Ralph Hasenhuttl responded: “I think it definitely can be this season that you need 40 or more points (to be safe) for the first time maybe in Premier League history, this is possible. I don’t know if all three teams at the bottom will pick up more points than we have or will make by the end of the season, I don’t know. It’s not about having the feeling of being safe, we have a chance for getting into the top 10 positions. That’s where we are looking. We want to have a game against Brentford where we do it better than in the last game against Crystal Palace. Especially in the finish. This gives us then a chance to end up maybe higher in the table.”
Up next, Saints travel to Brentford – who are 14th in the table and are level with Hasenhuttl’s charges on 40 points with three matches to go. A win for either side ends all speculation, drags them out of the bottom quarter and potentially sets up a run to finish higher in the table. A loss, depending on results elsewhere, could leave a nervous finish.
Ralph hasenhuttl said: “Sure, because we then have one and a half weeks break without a game. Then we know that we face momentarily the best team in the world and it is not so easy to win against them, but we have no gifts to give so we will look in every game to take as many points as possible.”
