Fulham 0-1 Southampton: Obafemi sends Saints through to Carabao Cup third-round

Southampton advanced through to the third-round of the Carabao Cup with a narrow 1-0 victory over Fulham.

Saints perhaps should have won by more after spurning several late chances but were thankful to Michael Obafemi’s second senior goal for their win.

Although the damage remains to be seen, second-half injuries to both Obafemi and Nathan Redmond put a dampener on what has been a positive week for the club otherwise.

Ralph Hasenhuttl fielded a strong team for the tie, which would have pleased many of the fans who had made the trip to Craven Cottage.

Six players kept their places in the line-up from Saturday’s win over Brighton, whilst each of Alex McCarthy, Cedric, Moussa Djenepo, Sofiane Boufal and Michael Obafemi were given chances to impress.

Fulham made nine changes of their own but it didn’t show with their start to the contest. Bobby Reid crashed a free-kick against the crossbar and Alex McCarthy was forced into a good reflex save to tip over the rebound with only eight minutes gone.

Saints were struggling to get going and the Cottagers’ Luca De La Torre fired a low strike narrowly wide when trying to find the far corner.

However, Saints eventually started to link up more successfully as players adjusted back into the feel of playing with their teammates.

They produced several promising attacking moves during the first-half, and Nathan Redmond and Moussa Djenepo had shots, but they were unable to force home goalkeeper Marek Rodak into a save before half-time.

With just 45 minutes remaining before the potential lottery of a penalty shootout, they would have to lift their game to go through to the third-round.

A golden opportunity was not taken by Oriol Romeu when he had just Rodak to beat, but that wouldn’t matter as Saints took that lead just two minutes later.

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A lively performance by Redmond at Brighton at the weekend resulted in his first goal of the season and he registered his first assist of the new campaign with a cross for Michael Obafemi to turn in from close-range; the youngster’s second senior goal for Saints.

Saints have a real prospect in Obafemi but his injury issues are a real issue as he develops his game. He would be replaced by Danny Ings shortly after scoring as he pulled up once again.

Unfortunately – and perhaps more worryingly – another freak injury came as Redmond left the pitch in some considerable pain and was replaced by Shane Long. Ralph Hasenhuttl will clearly be hoping that his key man isn’t kept out of action for long.

With a narrow 1-0 lead in the game though, it was important that Saints put the result beyond doubt.

Danny Ings was presented with two ideal chances to do just that but was denied well on both occasions by Marek Rodak, and then Shane Long put an effort wide from close-range.

The Saints pressing had caused Fulham all sorts of problems when they looked to play out from the back. But it was fortunate for the visitors that the hosts hadn’t made them pay for not increasing their lead when they really should have

Fulham team

Rodak, Christie, McDonald, Le Marchand, Bryan, Kamara (Taylor-Crossdale 90+2), De La Torre (Davis 90), Johansen (Francois 80), O’Riley, Onomah, Reid

Subs not used: Odoi, Opoku, Sessegnon, Norman

Saints team

McCarthy, Cedric, Bednarek (Yoshida 60), Danso, Hojbjerg, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Djenepo, Boufal, Redmond (Long 76), Obafemi (Ings 67)

Subs not used: Gunn, Stephens, Armstrong, Valery