page_title: 2018–19 Southampton F.C. season
section_title: October–December 2018
hierarchical_section_title: 2018–19 Southampton F.C. season / Premier League / October–December 2018
caption_attribution_description: German football manager Ralph Hasenhüttl, VfR Aalen
context_page_description: The 2018–19 Southampton F.C. season is the club's 20th season in the Premier League and their 42nd in the top division of English football. In addition to the Premier League, the club also competed in the FA Cup and the EFL Cup. Southampton finished the season 16th in the Premier League table with 9 wins, 12 draws and 17 losses. The club were knocked out of the third round of the FA Cup by Championship side Derby County, and were knocked out of the EFL Cup in the fourth round by fellow Premier League team Leicester City. The 2018–19 season was Southampton's last with manager Mark Hughes, who departed on 3 December 2018 with the club in the relegation zone with only one win from 14 games. Former Leipzig manager Ralph Hasenhüttl was appointed as his replacement the next day, after Kelvin Davis took charge of the team's next game.
  Following the end of the 2017–18 season, Southampton released a number of players, including first-team defenders Florin Gardoș and Jérémy Pied. The club also sold Serbian midfielder Dušan Tadić to Dutch club Ajax for £10 million.
context_section_description: October started off with another 3–0 loss, at home to title challengers Chelsea. 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. 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; the second, at home to Newcastle United, saw the Saints dominate proceedings with 22 shots compared to the Magpies' six. 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. 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. 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.
  Southampton continued their winless run in the next two games, drawing 1–1 with Watford and losing 3–2 to recently promoted Fulham. 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. José Holebas equalised in the last ten minutes to secure a point for the visitors. 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. Armstrong scored a second time to equalise for the Saints, but Mitrović responded in kind to secure the win. In their first game of December, Southampton hosted Manchester United and shared the points in a 2–2 draw. The Saints took an unlikely lead within 20 minutes, as Armstrong and Cédric Soares put the hosts two up against the struggling visitors. United responded before half-time, however, with Romelu Lukaku and Ander Herrera levelling the game going into the break. A second half of few chances left both sides picking up a point for the game, and Southampton without a win in three months.
  On 3 December 2018, Mark Hughes was sacked as the manager of Southampton. 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. 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. Austin scored a consolation goal for the Saints in injury time, but the loss left them in the relegation zone. 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. 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.
  In Hasenhüttl's first home game, Southampton beat Arsenal 3–2. Danny Ings headed in a cross from Matt Targett within 20 minutes, although Henrikh Mkhitaryan responded with an equalising header just eight minutes later. 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. 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. 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. Nathan Redmond opened the scorin
caption: Ralph Hasenhüttl took over from the sacked Mark Hughes as Southampton manager on 5 December 2018.
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