Scotland international ends 183 day wait as ex-Rangers man lands unwanted league record

The two-cap forward has endured a nightmare spell with injury since moving to Southampton from Sunderland for a fee of £8million in September 2023, starting just once since his arrival and playing in a total of only 156 minutes of football due issues with his Achilles, hamstring and thigh.

His first appearance for the club since he was forced off with a in the 26th minute of a 3-1 away defeat to Arsenal on October 5 earlier in the season, the ex-Stadium of Light hitman reached the first milestone in his injury comeback by coming on for the final seven minutes of his side’s loss at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, replacing Lesley Ugochukwu in the later stages of the game in North London.

Sadly for Stewart his reintroduction to the pitch coincided with confirmation of the club’s relegation from the English top flight following a long and arduous season for Ivan Jurić and his side. With Ange Postecoglou’s running out comfortable winners thanks to Brennan Johnson’s brace and an injury time penalty Mathys Tel, it meant Southampton are mathematically relegated and will make an immediate return to the EFL Championship next season.

Their season troubled from the very start, Southampton won just of their first 23 games, prompting them to sack Rangers-linked manager Russell Martin in December and replace him with Croatian head coach Juric, though the team has remained rooted to the foot of the table.

With former Ibrox midfielder Joe Aribo in the starting XI, the Saints’ have set a new league record by becoming the first team to be relegated after just 31 games and, with just 10 points accrued during the season, are currently on course to break the record for the lowest ever English Premier League points total, which is currently held by Derby County on 11 points.

Should they fail to pick up at least a further two points from their final seven league games, they would then officially become the worst side in the history of the English Premier League.

“Soome [players] are experiencing relegation for the first time, so there will be a lot of emotions from them over the next few days," said goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. "The lads who have been here before, we have to try to pick the young boys up. This group did incredible things last season. Nobody will want to jump ship with seven games to go. We are tight and we have just got to pull each other through now.

Captain Jan Bednarek echoed Ramsdale’s thoughts, saying: "We can't change the past, the only thing we can do in the last seven games is to enjoy being in the Premier League. We have to improve as players and as a club. Hopefully we are going to build something great. The best thing is that we can learn, we can work hard and we can improve."