FORMER Premier League star Roy Keane admits he "fears" for Saints and Ipswich Town as he worries their promotion energy is "going already".

Keane, 53, who made 326 appearances in the top flight for Manchester United, has offered his verdict on the season's relegation fight.

He harbours concerns over Martin's newly promoted side and whether they can survive this campaign after the 3-2 defeat at home to Leicester City.

Saints are without a win in their first eight matches, picking up just one point - at home against Ipswich - ahead of a trip to Manchester City. 

Speaking ahead of the weekend's games, Keane told Stick to Football: "I fear for Southampton and Ipswich with relegation this season.

"Even when they are struggling, the energy of the crowd keeps you going in the first few weeks, but even that is looking like it’s going already.  

“When the defeats are getting to you each week, they’re starting to look physically smaller than their opposition.

“For the teams near the bottom, you always know that when you’re coming up against the top sides, they’ll know that they are in for a tough game.

"But when you play against the teams that are around you, deep down you’ll be thinking that it’s a good opportunity to pick up points.

"However, when that doesn’t happen and they beat you, it’s so hard to mentally pick yourself back up again," said Keane, regarding the Leicester clash. 

“In the Championship, you’ll be used to winning every week because you got promoted, but then you come to the Premier League.

"You’re getting beat most weeks so as a manager, it’s hard to keep energy levels up. For managers, the focus used to be getting 11 wins and you’d be safe.

"When I was a manager in the Premier League, the aim was a point a game and that would keep us in the league, but it’s much less than that now.

"It seems to be getting harder now for the teams at the bottom. If you look at the record, all three of the newly promoted sides went back down last season.

"It’s looking like two of the three will go down this season, and that’s not good for the league," added the seven-time Premier League winner.  

"It’s already got to the stage for the teams at the bottom thinking that they have to win games already. That’s not right because even getting draws would be good.

"For Southampton last weekend, being 2-0 up and then getting pegged back to 2-2, even getting the draw would have been big for them.

"To have lost it like that would have been hard for them. The two teams you’d worry about are Ipswich and Southampton.”