Southampton showed up Wednesday night with grit and determination. It wasn’t their best performance but they got the result and now out of the drop zone.
It was dubbed a must win by a lot of fans and quite frankly it was. Sitting a single point behind Cardiff, who lost the day before, and facing a weak Fulham side the team needed to win if they want to help improve their chances of seeing Premier League football again next season.
At the end of the day they got the job done and come away with all 3 points and a little breathing room heading into the final 10 matches of the season.
Here are the 3 key players for the Saints’ win against Fulham.
Maya Yoshida
The Japanese international made his return to the lineup Wednesday and showed every Saint’s fan what they were missing. He helped shut down the Fulham attacks and was a big reason Southampton collected their first clean sheet since January 2nd against, Chelsea.
He had 7 clearances in the match and looked as calm, cool, and collected as ever. His presence was missed and it is clear he should be starting next to Bednarek and Vestergaard for the rest of the season.
James Ward-Prowse
More from Saints Marching
- Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 2: Arrivals
- Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
- It’s time to talk about Gavin Bazunu
- Rain clouds on the horizon? Southampton beat Plymouth Argyle
- A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse
The kid has become a man. He is playing with an aggression and confidence that was missing under all previous managers. He now has 4 goals which surpasses his total from last season with 8 less appearances.
Not only is he scoring at a better clip he is better in all phases of the game. He is not afraid to go in and make a tackle and he showed that on Wednesday.
He is now a mainstay in the lineup and I do not think we will see him left out of the starting XI anytime soon.
Oriol Romeu
The Spaniard scored his first goal of the season on a corner that was poorly cleared by the Fulham keeper. It got the game off to a roaring start for the home side and helped keep the momentum on the side of the Saints.
He had an 8.54 rating according to Whoscored.com and really just had a complete performance. He passed at a 93% success rate to go along with his goal and also made 4 tackles and 2 interceptions on defense.
This was a vintage Romeu performance and if we get a few more of those this season we will be more than fine and finish comfortably above the drop zone.