Alan Shearer has been discussing Southampton’s future after the appointment of Mark Hughes and it’s not good news for West Ham United.
West Ham entertain Southampton at the London Stadium next time out in a crunch six-pointer.
The Hammers are two points above the Saints who sit in the relegation zone with eight games remaining.
Both sides have daunting run-ins with Southampton away from home in five of their eight games and David Moyes’ side struggling to find form against the backdrop of fan unrest.
Southampton won 2-0 away at Wigan to make the FA Cup semi-finals in Hughes’ first game in charge.
Besides West Brom, who look increasingly likely to be relegated after being cut adrift, the tightly congested bottom half of the Premier League is making things very difficult to call.
“They have a tough run-in so it is not going to be easy to turn them around, regardless of whether you are a novice (like I was when I stepped in at Newcastle) or experienced as Mark Hughes is,” Shearer told Coral.
“They have only won six games all season and they are probably going to need to win three out of eight to stay up.
“Looking at the squad at the start of the season, nobody predicted Southampton would be down there, so it suggests they should have the players to get out of trouble.”
After West Ham, Southampton play Arsenal, Chelsea then Leicester so will undoubtedly be targeting the Hammers game as a winnable fixture alongside other remaining games against Bournemouth and Everton.
West Ham have an arguably tougher final segment of matches with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton and Leicester to play with huge pressure heaped on key games against the Saints and Stoke.
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