Mark Hughes refuses to accept Southampton are safe despite almost guaranteeing their Premier League future by winning at relegation rivals Swansea.
Manolo Gabbiadiniâs 72nd-minute winner â four minutes after the Italian striker had come on as a substitute â pushed Swansea towards the Premier League trapdoor and confirmed West Bromâs relegation.
It leaves Southampton on 36 points â three above Swansea and with a better goal difference of nine on their Welsh rivals â ahead of Sundayâs final game, at home to the champions Manchester City.
Swansea are at home to already-relegated Stoke on the final day.
âThose celebrations shouldnât be misinterpreted,â said Hughes, who was so caught up in the joyful post-match scenes with his players and staff that he failed to indulge in the customary post-match handshake with his Swansea counterpart Carlos Carvalhal.
âThey were emotion as a consequence of winning this key game.
âWe had to win and we understood that and it wasnât that we were celebrating staying up because there is still an issue to be resolved in that regard.
âThere is a little bit of a cushion but we are playing Man City and we have to be careful.
âIf there is one team in this league who has the capability of scoring a lot of goals, itâs Man City.â
Hughesâ side have now taken seven points from their last three games and he felt the pre-match row over Southamptonâs cancelled Swansea hotel booking had worked in their favour.
Southampton had ended up staying 35 miles away at the Vale of Glamorgan resort â an hour away in M4 rush hour traffic â after their block booking in Swansea city centre was cancelled because of a âvirusâ at the Marriott Hotel.
Hughes had expressed his anger over that in a television interview before kick-off after the Saints squad had completed the final 100 yards of the journey on foot to ensure they were not held up entering the stadium.
âIâm not for one minute suggesting Swansea had anything to do with that,â Hughes said of the hotel row.
âMaybe it was over-zealous Swansea fans in positions to affect our hotel booking.
âBut those things you can use to your own benefit as a motivating factor.
âWe got held up a little bit outside as well because we were first here on the coach and apparently we were meant to wait for Swansea.
âBut we werenât going to do that. We were too focused, we got off the bus and walked the 100 yards into the ground.
âWe werenât going to be denied and messed about.â
Swanseaâs best chance of survival now seems to rest on overcoming Stoke and seeing Huddersfield lose their final two games, at Chelsea on Wednesday and at home to Arsenal on Sunday.
Were that to happen, Swansea would finish above Huddersfield on goal difference.
âItâs horrible not to depend on ourselves,â said Swansea boss Carvalhal.
âLetâs see what will happen (at Chelsea).
âIf we still believe then we can stay (in the Premier League), we must do our part on the weekend and win the game.
âAfter that, we can wait that a kind of miracle can happen.â