Russell Martin will be determined to shut out the outside noise regarding his Southampton side with pundits making their Premier League predictions in their droves over the last few days.
Southampton started their top flight return with a 1-0 defeat away at Newcastle United with the fact the Magpies were down to ten men from the 28th-minute making this a frustrating defeat.
That frustration has not been helped by the fact that Newcastle’s goal came from a mistake from Alex McCarthy with the ball at his feet with Southampton desperately needing a goalkeeper with better distribution this summer.
However, there were plenty of positives to take from the game against tough opponents, with Southampton competing well playing their possession-based style even before Fabian Schar was sent off for an altercation with Ben Brereton Diaz.
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Southampton welcome Nottingham Forest to St Mary’s on Saturday in a game which Russell Martin has surely earmarked for the first three points of the season.
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville predict Southampton relegation
With the return of Premier League football also came the return of Sky Sports’ famous Monday Night Football.
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville resumed their punditry roles as they watched the Saints’ fellow newly-promoted club Leicester City face Tottenham at the King Power.
That game ended in a 1-1 draw, with Spurs unable to make their dominance count and after the game Carragher and Neville were asked to make their Premier League predictions for the new season.
When it came to the topic of relegation, both pundits were in agreement that Southampton and Leicester would face the drop.
Neville felt all three newly-promoted sides would be relegated as they were last season, whilst Carragher backed Ipswich Town to stay up at the expense of Southampton’s next opponents Nottingham Forest.
Carragher explained: “I suppose they’re [Ipswich are] this season’s Luton in some ways, where they’ve been away for so long. I think it will be very hard to diminish their enthusiasm for being in the Premier League.”
The former Liverpool defender continued: “I think you saw that in the first-half with Leicester today. It’s almost like ‘we’ve been here, this is nothing new, we are a Premier League club’.
“I think they [Ipswich] might do enough. I don’t want to see the three newly promoted clubs go back down again. I don’t think it’s healthy for the Championship or the Premier League if i’m being honest.”
Neville feels this is exactly what will materialise, adding: “My fear is that the three [newly-promoted] teams do go down again.”
Russell Martin will use pundit predictions as motivation for Southampton
Martin will not mind his Southampton side being written off one bit.
Many pundits have tipped Saints for relegation, with Martin’s style of play often cited as the reason.
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The 38-year-old boss will be determined to prove this wrong, with the notion that you cannot have success coming up to the Premier League playing possession-dominant football one he will be keen to disprove.
Martin has already revealed that his brother sends him articles that write him and his side off, claiming his sibling knows that it will only fuel the Southampton boss to work harder to prove them wrong.
Carragher and Neville’s predictions will not come as a surprise, but it is down to Southampton to show they belong in the top flight, starting with Forest at the weekend.