It’s 2012, Manchester City have just won the Premier League, the European Championships are underway and Southampton are back in the Premier League after a seven-year absence.
Hauntingly, that sentence is almost just as appropriate twelve years later.
Southampton ended the 2012/13 season in 14th place, an excellent achievement for a side that had just completed back-to-back promotions out of League One & the Championship.
However, 12 years on, the Saints go into the 2024/25 season as the new boys once again, but how do their fixtures compare from the 2012/13 campaign?
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Wake me up when September ends
The Saints started with just one win from their opening six Premier League games, a very rocky start back in English football’s top tier.
The fixture gods had been particularly wicked to them after scheduling trips to Manchester City and Arsenal, as well as hosting Manchester United all before September had ended - Green Day would have had a field day.
Despite producing valiant displays against both Manchester sides, the Hampshire outfit were rooted to base off the Premier League table after their opening four games. In addition to their 3-2 defeats by both Manchester clubs, the Saints suffered a 2-0 loss to Wigan and a 6-1 thrashing by Arsenal. These games were humbling and humiliating in equal measure.
This left Southampton as the only side not to have registered a point after the first four games of the Premier League 2012/13 season.
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Third time lucky
The third match at St Mary’s Stadium that season finally saw the Saints get points on the board following a comprehensive 4-1 triumph over Aston Villa. Although, they made hard work of it, trailing at half time thanks to a Darren Bent strike.
Thankfully, a terrific second half display saw legendary striker Rickie Lambert open and close the scoring for Southampton, with goals in between from Nathaniel Clyne and Jason Puncheon helping to complete the comeback.
Sadly, it was not third time lucky on the road for Southampton after a 3-1 defeat to Everton. Goodison Park is not a happy hunting ground for the south coast side having not won in the blue half of Merseyside since 1997.
It is also worth noting that the Saints would not win at Goodison Park again until 2023, the only Premier League win in Nathan Jones's tenure.
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Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery
The outcome of the 2024/25 season is unknown, but its calendar is now visible for all to see.
Southampton, who returned to the Premier League at the first time of asking after a 1-0 Championship play-off Final win over Leeds United, will kick off their 2024/25 campaign at St. James Park as they take on Newcastle United.
Pessimists may point out that since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, the Saints have won just two of their opening matches - Coventry in 1999 and most recently West Bromwich Albion in 2013.
Going back to the concept of unhappy hunting grounds, Southampton have won just once on Tyneside since 1997, with January 17th, 2015, being known colloquially to Saints fans as 'Elijero Elia day.' The on-loan Dutch winger scored a brace in a 2-1 victory - the only goals Elia scored during his short spell on the South Coast.
The first home match of 2024/25 sees Southampton take on Nottingham Forest. Saints lost on both occasions to Forest last time in the Premier League.
On paper, the fixture gods appear to have been nicer this time around and produced a far more favourable opening six games compared to twelve years ago, matching them up against two teams who narrowly avoided relegation last season - Forest and Brentford - as well as Bournemouth and fellow promoted side Ipswich Town.
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Martin to surpass Adkins
In some ways, current Southampton boss Russell Martin has a very low bar to clear in his first six games as a Premier League manager. Simply secure more than three points in that time frame and he will have surpassed Nigel Adkins, the man who last led the Saints into the Premier League.
As shown with Southampton’s original return to the Premier League, a tough start does not always end in tears and now Russell Martin’s side has their schedule, they can begin to look forward to their return to the big time.
