With his Conservative Party suffering major setbacks in local elections, British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who was spotted at St Mary's Stadium, could have done without witnessing his beloved team endure a devastating and heartbreaking loss.  

However, Sunak's worst fears were realized when Southampton's 2-0 home defeat by Fulham ended their 11-year stay in the Premier League with two games still to play. The away fans' chants of "Rishi, Rishi, what's the score?" greeted confirmation of the hosts' tragic descent into the second tier. 

Kicking off eight points short of safety, Southampton needed a win to keep any slim hopes alive, but Carlos Vinicius dealt a massive blow to the hosts when he scored the opener for Fulham shortly after half-time. 

Without a win in their last 11 games, Southampton inevitably lacked confidence, and Aleksandar Mitrovic, who returned from an eight-game ban, quickly added a second for the visitors to send the Saints down.

Born and raised in Southampton, Sunak knows only too well how Southampton struggled to stay afloat this season. His team have gone through three different managers so far, Ralph Hasenhuttl, Nathan Jones, and now Ruben Selles, but none of the trio could do much to save the team from the drop.  

"It's a tough day for everybody, the performance on the pitch was not what we expect it to be and we were not good enough today. That's why we are in this situation," said Selles. 

"If we were in our standards, we would not be talking about this situation right now. We need to face it like that... We need to evaluate and be sure that when the club starts the next season those standards are on point. 

"I take all the responsibility for the last three months, that's my responsibility. I should be able to win more football matches. I should be able to have a team that competes better."

"There is not only one reason - one of the things that we didn't find during the season was enough togetherness, enough trust in each other," fumed Selles. "It's not only about one player or one coach, it's about relationships between us." 

The frustration was echoed by Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse, who has made 407 appearances for the Saints.  

"It's disappointing but it's a moment that has been coming," observed Ward-Prowse. "We'd put ourselves in a difficult position and I thought we did well to take it to this stage of the season. 

"When these sorts of things happen, you go away individually and as a club and reflect on whether we did everything we could to achieve our goal. I don't think we have and that's a shame as I feel it is about having no regrets and leaving everything out there. 

"Over the course of the season that has caught up with us. Ultimately that's why we are where we are now."

Ward-Prowse admitted relegation had been coming during a challenging season. "From the first day of pre-season until right now you can tell the standards at the club have slipped," he said. 

"Have decisions been right? Have we done everything we could on the pitch? I think we should perform at a better level than we have done... I have been here right through from eight years old, I've seen the journey that the club has been on, all the ups and downs, the good times and the bad, and this is a bad time," he added. 

"But I'm sure with the good people at the club it will be back in the Premier League in no time. It will be a testing time for everybody but the club has done it before and I'm sure it will do it again."