Southampton vs. Fulham: Premier League – Preview and Predictions

Southampton, come into this match one point from safety while Fulham are staring relegation squarely in the face. This match is simply huge for both sides.

The first match, at the Cottage, saw a back and forth affair with Fulham eventually coming out on top 3-2 thanks in-part to lazy defending and two Mitrovic goals.

Last match though, Mark Hughes was still in charge of the Saints and Wesley Hoedt was still starting in the back. Since then, the team has made some drastic changes and mostly for the better. Let us take a look at how this game could unfold at St. Mary’s tomorrow.

Why Southampton Will Win

After enjoying a positive run of form under new manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, the Saints have hit a little bump in the road and have struggled as of late. A lot of the issues can be marked up to old problems that plagued the team before the Austrian took over and are still trying to be worked out.

All those issues could be rectified on Wednesday with a dominate performance. Fulham, are a team that have a lot of issues themselves and the Saints have to take advantage of them at home if they hope to survive this season. It is a must win and it would be foolish to think Hasenhuttl has not been stressing that for the past two weeks.

The players will know what is at stake and what is expected of them and I suspect they will go out there and play hard until the final whistle. I expect Nathan Redmond to have a great match and the defense to look sharp after the embarrassing performance against Arsenal over the weekend.

Why Fulham Will Win

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Fulham, have conceded 61 goals on the season. If they hope to win and start the long journey of survival it has to start tomorrow and start with a clean sheet.

Southampton, have struggled to score in their last 4 matches and if that trend continues the visiting team could be looking at taking all 6 pints from the Saints on the season and a huge step in the right direction.

Mitrovic, again, will be the key to their success. The big striker had himself a field day against the Saints weak backline earlier in the season and will look to take advantage of that again. If he gets the type of service he needs he will be peppering the goal with shots and one or more are bound to find the back of the net.

I think this game will have a lot of back and forth and the teams will each have plenty of opportunities to score. Obviously, the team that takes advantage of their opportunities will walk away with the crucial points.

Predicted Lineups 

Southampton: 3-4-2-1

Goalkeeper: Alex McCarthy

Defenders: Jan Bednarek, Jannik Vestergaard, Maya Yoshida

Midfielders: Yan Valery, Pierre-Emili Hojbjerg, Oriel Romeu, Ryan Bertrand

Attacking Midfielders: Nathan Redmond, James Ward-Prowse

Forward: Shane Long

Fulham: 4-2-3-1

Goalkeeper: Sergio Rico

Defenders: Joe Bryan, Tim Ream, Havard Nordtveit, Denis Odoi

Midfielders: Calum Chambers, Jean Michael Sarri

Attacking Midfielders: Andre Schurrle, Ryan Babel, Ryan Sessegnon

Forwards: Aleksandar Mitrovic

Predicted Score

Southampton 2-1 Fulham