SAINTS are barrelling headlong into what could be their worst-ever season at home in the Premier League.

With just four home matches remaining, Saints have collected just 15 points from 15 games.

Mauricio Pellegrino’s strugglers need to tally NINE more points from their remaining matches against Stoke, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Manchester City if they are to even match their lowest Premier League home total.

As it stands, the 2004/05 relegation campaign, when Saints finished bottom of the top-flight, is their joint-poorest season in the elite, having tallied 24 points at home that term.

That fateful season is joined by last season’s 8th-place finish in the worst home record stakes, with Claude Puel’s men also reaching 24 points in front of their own supporters in 2016/17.

There have been worse campaigns than these, though.

In the Championship season of 2008/09, when the club were battling financial crisis, Saints managed to collect just 22 points in 23 home matches and were eventually relegated to League One.

Now, Saints find themselves on course for another disastrous campaign in front of their own fans and, if they can’t improve at St Mary’s, they’ll likely be relegated.

Having watched Puel’s Saints team struggle at St Mary’s, supporters, with the promise of attacking football ringing their ears, would have been hopeful of improved performances this term.

However, familiar problems have blighted the team and they now face the daunting task of salvaging their rotten home season in four massive games.

Certainly, considering the run-in, this will be no easy task and they can ill-afford to follow the example of last season, when they failed to win nor score in their last five games at home.

At this point Saints have played more than any other Premier League side at home (15).

That is because the West Ham away game was switched from August to March due to the Athletics World Championships at the Hammers’ London Stadium.

It now means Saints have seven away games in their final 11 Premier League fixtures. Which may be no bad thing, considering their home form.

Despite playing more home games than anyone else, only bottom side West Bromwich Albion have a poorer home record. The Baggies have 13 points from 13 matches at The Hawthorns.

In the final run-in, games against Stoke and Bournemouth are nothing other than must-win games at this stage.

Saints have lost back-to-back games at home to the Potters, who visit St Mary’s on March 3, including a miserable 1-0 defeat in the final game of last term.

More positively, Saints have not lost to Cherries at home in the Premier League (W1, D1).

Victories against their rivals for survival will not be enough to avoid recording their worst-ever home campaign in the Premier League, though.

Saints will need to do what they have failed to do in ten league games and nearly two years – that's beat one of the big guns – to surpass the 24-point mark and therefore avoid their lowest tally.

Not since Ronald Koeman’s men defeated Manchester City 4-2 in May 2016 have Saints won against one of the Premier League leading sides in a league fixture.

But that’s what they must do if they are to avoid recording their worst-ever home season in all of their 19 Premier League campaigns.

At this point, though, just ending their seven-game winless run at home will offer some solace.