AI prediction gives Southampton fans a brutal reality check about next season | OneFootball

AI has given its prediction about Southampton's 2025/26 season, and thinks that remaining in the Championship is more likely than being promoted back to the Premier League.

Southampton rubber-stamped their place in the second tier of English football, after what was a frankly embarrassing season. With three different managers at the helm (Russell Martin, Simon Rusk and Ivan Juric), the Saints set a pretty poor reputation for themselves.

While it's less than ideal, Saints fans are at least looking forward to winning some more games next season. To put it bluntly, it shouldn't be difficult to beat this season's record, considering a French team has a better Premier League record than us.

Nevertheless, while the "yo-yo club" reputation might be annoying, it could at least work in the Saints' favour next season... Or so they thought.

AI predicts Southampton to remain in the Championship next season

We recently asked ChatGPT to come up with a prediction on the upcoming 2025/26 season, to which it gave Championship security as a more likely option than promotion or relegation.

ChatGPT said "Given the current outlook, Southampton are more likely to stay in the Championship for the 2025/26 season, but a push for promotion isn't out of the question.

When prodded about why promotion back to the Premier League is less likely, the answer was "The Championship is highly competitive and their squad has been inconsistent, and the managerial situation is unsettled. If they appoint a competent manager and invest wisely in the summer, they could be strong contenders."

So, even if ChatGPT is hesitant to provide high odds for promotion, it also refuses to rule out the likelihood of promotion back to the top flight.

As far as Southampton fans are concerned, anything less than promotion back to the Premier League would be a sheer disappointment.

Southampton should have an incredible transfer budget, one that would blow any other Championship side out of the equation. Admittedly, this is due to losing some key players, but the finances could (and should) be reinvested back into the squad.

This also isn't Southampton's first rodeo. They achieved promotion back to the Premier League under Russell Martin through the playoff route, which hands an equal opportunity to teams who don't quite make the top-two cut.