European-chasing Fulham will endeavour to boost their top-eight hopes when they travel to St Mary's to take on already-relegated Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Neither team could be separated when they played out a goalless stalemate in the reverse fixture at Craven Cottage four months ago.
Match preview
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Southampton suffered the earliest relegation in Premier League history a fortnight ago, but a point picked up in last weekend's 1-1 draw at West Ham United means they will avoid setting the outright record for the lowest-ever PL points total, as they have now drawn level with the 2007-08 Derby County side (11).
The Saints looked on course to suffer their 27th top-flight defeat of the season until Lesley Ugochukwu netted a 93rd-minute equaliser to cancel out Jarrod Bowen's opener at the London Stadium and secure their sixth away point of the campaign - one more than they have collected at St Mary's (five).
With a place in the 2025-26 Championship now confirmed, Southampton are merely playing for pride, but they still have an outside chance of finishing off the foot of the Premier League table as they sit seven points behind 19th-placed Leicester City, who have also been relegated and will lock horns with the Saints at the beginning of next month.
Simon Rusk has taken interim charge of two Southampton games since the departure of Ivan Juric on April 7, as he did in mid-December following the sacking of Russell Martin, with one of those being the aforementioned 0-0 draw at Fulham - one of just two clean sheets that they have kept all season.
Southampton have conceded a total of 78 PL goals this term, though, just two short of their highest-ever league total (80 in 1971-72), while they are now bidding to avoid becoming the fourth team in PL history to lose at least 14 home matches in the same season after Sunderland (14 in 2002-03 and 2005-06), Huddersfield Town (14 in 2018-19) and Watford (15 in 2021-22).
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Fulham's European aspirations have suffered a major blow in recent weeks as they have lost four of their last six Premier League fixtures, most recently falling to 1-0 and 2-1 defeats to fellow European chasers Bournemouth and Chelsea respectively.
The Cottagers were seemingly on course to return to winning ways in a West London derby against the Blues last weekend, but they let a one-goal lead slip by conceding in the 83rd and 93rd minutes to lose their 11th league game of the season.
Marco Silva felt that the result was "very harsh" on Fulham, but he has acknowledged that his side were "punished" for a poor second-half performance and they subsequently remain ninth in the Premier League table, one point behind Bournemouth in eighth and nine points behind the top seven with five games left to play.
Qualification for next season's Conference League is therefore still up for grabs for Fulham, who head into Saturday's contest with Southampton having won two of their last three Premier League meetings with the Saints, as many as they had in their previous 11 (D5 L4).
However, the Cottagers have lost their last three top-flight away fixtures, as many as in their previous 16 on the road (W8 D5), and two of those three defeats have come on the South Coast against Brighton & Hove Albion (2-1) and Bournemouth (1-0).
Team News
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Southampton's Albert Gronbaek is closing in on a return from an Achilles issue, but Saturday's game will come too soon for the January signing, while Charlie Taylor remains sidelined with a hip injury.
A back three of Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens is set to remain intact, with Kyle Walker-Peters and Ryan Manning both expected to continue operating as wing-backs as Ugochukwu and Flynn Downes link arms in midfield.
Rusk could be tempted to make one or two changes in attack, though, with in-demand Tyler Dibling and Cameron Archer both pushing to start at the expense of either Mateus Fernandes, Kamaldeen Sulemana or Paul Onuachu.
As for Fulham, Reiss Nelson (hamstring) and Rodrigo Muniz (muscle) remains sidelined with injuries, while Emile Smith Rowe (knock) will be assessed ahead of kickoff after missing the defeat to Chelsea.
Harry Wilson recovered from a foot fracture to feature as a late substitute against Chelsea after almost three months on the sidelines. The Welshman is once again in contention to feature this weekend, but Silva may stick with Ryan Sessegnon and Alex Iwobi on the flanks from the start.
While Iwobi has netted a personal best nine PL goals this term, including one last weekend, top scorer Raul Jimenez has 12 goals to his name and will lead the line in Muniz's absence. Meanwhile, a back four of Kenny Tete, Joachim Andersen, Calvin Bassey and Antonee Robinson could remain intact, although the likes of Timothy Castagne and Jorge Cuenca will be pushing for a recall.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Downes, Ugochukwu, Manning; Fernandes, Dibling; Archer
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Lukic, Berge; Sessegnon, Pereira, Iwobi; Jimenez
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We say: Southampton 0-2 Fulham
Southampton will unsurprisingly enter Saturday's fixture as underdogs and firm favourites Fulham, who have scored in six of their last seven PL matches, will hope to have the clinical touch in front of goal that they lacked in the reverse fixture.
None of Fulham's last 13 league games have ended as a draw (W6 L7) and we expect this run to continue as Silva's men should have enough to get the better of a frail Saints backline this time around.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
