Fulham and Southampton played a fierce duel on relegation on Saturday night at Craven Cottage. It will be the first appearance of Claudio Ranieri (67) on the London bench, after the dismissal of Slavia Jokanovic, the manager who returned the black and white to the first English league. It will be a special atmosphere for the Saturday match.
There are two bands with great worries about relegation. Fulham is on the 20th place (goal 11-31) and has the weakest defensive in the Premier League, which is why the club’s chiefs felt that there was a shock to the team and the change of coach was quick. We should see a fresh breath at Fulham, which has players of some quality in the offensive. On the other side, Southampton is on the 17th place (goal 8-21) and has hard offensive problems. Missing incisiveness, the “saints” have only one victory this season and Mark Hughes’s post remains in danger. The Welsh manager lost his support at Southampton.
Southampton, without a goal scored in 5 of the last 7 rounds.
Previously, Fulham kept Liverpool only for a half time and eventually scored the 6th consecutive defeat in the championship, 0-2 on “Anfield”. Failure followed some other modest results such as 0-1 with Huddersfield, 0-3 with Bournemouth, 2-4 with Cardiff and 1-5 with Arsenal. Instead, Southampton has 3 draws in the last 4 stages, two of them having the same white score, 0-0. The previous round, white-red was pleased with a 1-1 on home ground in front of Watford, and the guests come hoping for London for the second match this year against Fulham! The two also dueled in January in the English Cup, when Fulham was still in the second league and dreamed of promotion. The “saints” then won 1-0 away, Ward-Prowse’s only goal being Ward-Prowse.
Ranieri has an excellent balance when taking over a new team!
It is a good atmosphere at Fulham after Ranieri’s appointment, who is aware of the heavy duty he has: “I took over the club because I really believe in rescue. I’m brave, but I’m not an idiot! ” It is worth noting that Italian Ranieri won the first match on his new team bench in 5 of the last 6 cases, and Mark Hughes has yet to defeat him in three direct duels. Southampton has scored 5 goals in the last 7 rounds, and Fulham has lost just three souls in southern England, home-based (8-8-3). The hosts are missing Bryan and McDonald, while Southampton comes without Bertrand and Shane Long, and the scorer Danny Ings is uncertain.
THE PROBABLE TEAMS
Fulham: Sergio Rico – Christie, Odoi, Mawson, Le Marchand – Anguissa, Chambers – Schurrle, Cairney, R. Sessegnon – Mitrovic
Southampton: McCarthy – Cedric, Yoshida, Hoedt, Targett – Hojbjerg, Lemina – Gabbiadini, Armstrong, Redmond – Ings
PREDICTION: Under 2.5 goals @ 1.92
