2018–19 Southampton F.C. season

Danny Ings scored twice in his first four league games for the Saints, after joining on loan from Liverpool in the summer transfer window.

Southampton picked up just one point from their first three games of the 2018–19 Premier League campaign, holding Burnley to a goalless draw in their opening fixture.[27] The club lost their following two games 2–1. In the first, against Everton, the Saints were down by two goals within 31 minutes following goals from Theo Walcott and Richarlison.[28] New signing Danny Ings scored his first goal for the club after the break, but the hosts held on for the three points, with Walcott almost doubling his tally late on.[28] The second, against Leicester City, saw few chances for either side in the first 45 minutes.[29] Ryan Bertrand opened the scoring shortly after the break, but his side's lead was cancelled out by Demarai Gray within a few minutes.[29] After Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was sent off, the visitors secured the win in injury time through Harry Maguire.[29] The Saints picked up their first win of the season the following week, beating Crystal Palace 2–0 thanks to second-half goals from Ings and Højbjerg.[30]

Two weeks later, a second consecutive win of the season at home to Brighton & Hove Albion was denied by a penalty in injury time at the end of the game.[31] Højbjerg opened the scoring before half-time with a strike from long range, with Ings adding a second after the break from a penalty awarded for a foul on the striker.[31] Shane Duffy brought the Seagulls back into the game, with Glenn Murray converting an injury time penalty to secure a point for the visitors.[31] The draw with Brighton was followed by three consecutive losses. First, the Saints were beaten 3–0 by a Liverpool side at the top of the league table, with goals from centre-back Joël Matip and striker Mohamed Salah following a tenth-minute own goal by Wesley Hoedt.[32] Next was a 2–0 loss at recently promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers, with goals scored by Ivan Cavaleiro (his first touch in the Premier League) and Jonny Castro Otto within the last 11 minutes of the game.[33] The run left Southampton 16th in the Premier League table.[33]

October started off with another 3–0 loss, at home to title challengers Chelsea.[34] Winger Eden Hazard opened the scoring after half an hour, with Ross Barkley and Álvaro Morata contributing in the second half to the convincing win which left Southampton just two points above the relegation zone and Chelsea second in the table.[34] Southampton's poor form continued, although they remained clear of the drop zone, with a point each from two goalless draws later in October. The first at Bournemouth, featured few chances for either side;[35] the second, at home to Newcastle United, saw the Saints dominate proceedings with 22 shots compared to the Magpies' six.[36] The following week, the Saints suffered their worst defeat in Premier League history, when they lost 6–1 to league champions and leaders Manchester City.[37] Another Hoedt own goal put the visitors down within six minutes, and by the 20th the hosts were three ahead after Sergio Agüero and David Silva added to the scoreline.[37] Ings pulled one back with a first-half penalty, but two goals from Raheem Sterling and one from Leroy Sané ensured a convincing win for the league leaders.[37]

Southampton continued their winless run in the next two games, drawing 1–1 with Watford and losing 3–2 to recently promoted Fulham.[38][39] In the former, the Saints led through Manolo Gabbiadini's first-half strike, but were denied a two-goal cushion when a goal scored by Charlie Austin was "incorrectly" denied due to offside.[38] José Holebas equalised in the last ten minutes to secure a point for the visitors.[38] Against Fulham, a first goal for Stuart Armstrong put his side ahead, but one from Aleksandar Mitrović and one from André Schürrle before the break put the hosts up at half-time.[39] Armstrong scored a second time to equalise for the Saints, but Mitrović responded in kind to secure the win.[39] In their first game of December, Southampton hosted Manchester United and shared the points in a 2–2 draw.[40] The Saints took an unlikely lead within 20 minutes, as Armstrong and Cédric Soares put the hosts two up against the struggling visitors.[40] United responded before half-time, however, with Romelu Lukaku and Ander Herrera levelling the game going into the break.[40] A second half of few chances left both sides picking up a point for the game, and Southampton without a win in three months.[40]

Ralph Hasenhüttl took over from the sacked Mark Hughes as Southampton manager on 5 December 2018.

On 3 December 2018, Mark Hughes was sacked as the manager of Southampton.[5] Assistant first-team coach Kelvin Davis took charge of the team at Wembley Stadium against Tottenham Hotspur two days later, which ended 3–1 to the hosts.[41] Despite Harry Kane opening the scoring within the first ten minutes, it took until the second half for Spurs to score again, which they did through Lucas Moura and Son Heung-min within ten minutes of the restart to go three up.[41] Austin scored a consolation goal for the Saints in injury time, but the loss left them in the relegation zone.[41] Former Leipzig boss Ralph Hasenhüttl was named as Southampton's new manager before the Tottenham game, with his first match in charge to be the fixture against Cardiff City on 8 December.[6] Hasenhüttl's first game at the club ended in a loss, with Callum Paterson scoring the only goal of the match late on to send the Saints down to 19th in the league table, three points away from safety.[42]

In Hasenhüttl's first home game, Southampton beat Arsenal 3–2.[43] Danny Ings headed in a cross from Matt Targett within 20 minutes, although Henrikh Mkhitaryan responded with an equalising header just eight minutes later.[43] Before half-time, Ings scored a second to put the hosts back in front, although less than ten minutes after the break Mkhitaryan responded in kind to level it for the visitors again.[43] Shane Long saw a late goal disallowed, but later set up Charlie Austin to score the winner in the 85th minute; Southampton's first win since September saw them move out of the relegation zone for the first time in three weeks.[43] The following week, the Saints beat fellow strugglers Huddersfield Town 3–1 away to pick up a second consecutive league win for the first time since April 2017.[44] Nathan Redmond opened the scoring with his first goal of the season after 15 minutes, and Ings doubled the lead just before half-time with a penalty after being brought down in the box.[44] Within 15 minutes of the restart, a long-range effort from Philip Billing brought the hosts back into the game, however a first goal for young striker Michael Obafemi just five minutes after coming on gave Southampton back their two-goal lead.[44]

On 27 December, the club lost 2–1 at home to West Ham United.[45] After a first half of few chances, Nathan Redmond scored for the second game running just after the break to put the hosts ahead.[45] However, within ten minutes the Hammers had responded twice through Felipe Anderson, ending Southampton's short winning run.[45] In their final game of 2018, Southampton hosted Premier League champions Manchester City, losing 3–1.[46] David Silva opened the scoring after ten minutes, but Pierre-Emile Højbjerg responded 25 minutes later to equalise for the hosts.[46] On the stroke of half-time, however, a shot from Raheem Sterling was deflected into his own goal by James Ward-Prowse, and in injury time a back-post header from Sergio Agüero made it 3–1.[46] Southampton were unable to mount a comeback in the second half, and Højbjerg was shown a straight red card five minutes from full-time for a tackle on Fernandinho.[46] The loss left the Saints out of the relegation zone on goal difference only.[46]

In their first fixture of 2019, Southampton were held to a goalless draw by Chelsea.[47] The hosts dominated possession throughout the game, but despite 17 shots were unable to find a way through the defence.[47] In the best chances of the game, Eden Hazard saw his shot saved by Angus Gunn, while Álvaro Morata's second-half goal was disallowed for offside.[47] Two weeks later, the Saints picked up a 2–1 win over Leicester City.[48] The visitors opened the scoring early through a James Ward-Prowse penalty, after Nampalys Mendy fouled Shane Long in the box.[48] On the stroke of half-time, however, Yan Valery was sent off for a second yellow card after a foul on Marc Albrighton.[48] Long doubled Southampton's lead in injury time before the break, before Wilfred Ndidi scored a consolation goal for the hosts in the second half.[48]

As of 12 May 2019

#	Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		EFL Cup		Total
				Starts	Subs	Starts	Subs	Starts	Subs	Starts	Subs	Total
1	MF		Nathan Redmond	36	2	1	1	2	1	39	4	43
2	MF		Pierre-Emile Højbjerg	31	0	0	0	2	0	33	0	33
	MF		Oriol Romeu	26	5	1	0	1	0	28	5	33
4	MF		Stuart Armstrong	16	13	1	0	2	0	19	13	32
5	MF		James Ward-Prowse	21	5	2	0	1	0	24	5	29
	DF		Jack Stephens	19	5	2	0	3	0	24	5	29
7	FW		Shane Long	12	14	2	0	0	0	14	14	28
8	DF		Jan Bednarek	24	1	0	0	2	0	26	1	27
	FW		Charlie Austin	11	14	1	0	0	1	12	15	27
10	DF		Jannik Vestergaard	23	0	2	0	1	0	26	0	26

As of 12 May 2019

#	Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		EFL Cup		Total
				Goals	Apps.	Goals	Apps.	Goals	Apps.	Goals	Apps.	GPG
1	MF		Nathan Redmond	6	38	3	2	0	3	9	43	0.21
2	FW		Danny Ings	7	24	0	0	1	1	8	25	0.32
3	MF		James Ward-Prowse	7	26	0	2	0	1	7	29	0.24
4	FW		Shane Long	5	26	0	2	0	0	5	28	0.18
5	MF		Stuart Armstrong	3	29	1	1	0	2	4	32	0.13
	MF		Pierre-Emile Højbjerg	4	31	0	0	0	2	4	33	0.12
7	FW		Charlie Austin	2	25	0	1	1	1	3	27	0.11
8	DF		Yan Valery	2	23	0	0	0	1	2	24	0.08
9	FW		Michael Obafemi	1	6	0	0	0	1	1	7	0.14
	FW		Manolo Gabbiadini	1	12	0	0	0	3	1	15	0.07
	DF		Matt Targett	1	16	0	2	0	3	1	21	0.05
	DF		Cédric Soares	1	18	0	2	0	2	1	22	0.05
	MF		Mario Lemina	1	21	0	2	0	0	1	23	0.04
	DF		Ryan Bertrand	1	24	0	0	0	0	1	24	0.04
	DF		Jack Stephens	1	24	0	2	0	3	1	29	0.03
	MF		Oriol Romeu	1	31	0	1	0	1	1	33	0.03