The St Mary’s side are beginning to get cut adrift after the latest 1-0 defeat at home to AFC Bournemouth, courtesy of Marcus Tavernier’s winner. It means Saints remain six points adrift of safety with five games to go – including Newcastle United, Brighton and Liverpool still to play. The Cherries – promoted from the Championship last campaign and heavy favourites for the drop – have raced to 12 points clear of Saints. After three managers and 14 signings to the first-team squad, an 11-year stay in the top-flight looks to be coming to an end at SO. Selles is not ready to admit that,
Ruben Selles said: “Of course, the disappointment is there – but I always keep my positivity as I see them working every day and see what they can do. I will keep my positivity until the very end, I still think we can do it and I still think everybody in the club is able to do it. We need to keep that belief. It will be very early in the morning that I start to work on the things we need, analysing video etcetera.”
Ahead of facing Newcastle for a fourth time this season – the previous three were all losses –
Ruben Selles added: “I think we have been talking about must-wins for the last five or six games. Of course, it is one we must win – more now than ever – but we are trying to go for it. In the last game (at St James’ Park in the League Cup semi-final), we started a little bit slow and conceded two quick goals to put us out of the game. We cannot make those mistakes again as it is very difficult to make a comeback if you are down in the Premier League. We have to be brave from the very beginning, we have shown that we can cause damage in certain situations. We need to go for it.”