Fulham did not seem to miss Louis Saha too much last weekend.

Although they did need to come back from a goal down at home to Tottenham Hotspur, and Chris Coleman admitted that he was relieved to get a win.

"In the first half we got out of jail because I didn't think we deserved to go in at 1-1," said Coleman. "They coped better with the conditions than us but we upped it in the second half and got the result. This was a big result for us. We are now two wins away from 40 points which remains our first target, and once we get there we can march on and set our sights on something else."

Fulham won 2-1 again on Wednesday night in their FA Cup replay against Everton, it was no less difficult.

Junichi Inamoto looked to have won it for the Cottagers with his second half goal, but Francis Jeffers popped up with another late equaliser to send the game into extra-time.

Fortunately for the home fans, Steed Malbranque restored their advantage and this time they held on to book their place in the next round.

Fulham will hope to do much better than they did on their last trip to St Mary's, in October 2002, when they went 2-0 up after just twenty minutes and then proceeded to self-destruct.

Goals from Lee Clark and Steed Malbranque had seemed to set Fulham on their way to glory, but two James Beattie strikes before half-time levelled the scores and he added another after the break to put the Saints ahead, with Brett Ormerod completing the turnaround to make it 4-2.

Not many teams come away from Old Trafford furious that they didn't win, but that is exactly how Gordon Strachan felt on Saturday.

His Southampton side had pushed Manchester United close all the way and were aggrieved at the manner of their defeat - a controversial 'offside' goal by Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Strachan could at least take solace in the way The Saints had performed: "At 2-0 most people would have thought the game was over," he said. "With a bit more luck we could even have got in front. I'm proud of my team, but it is a long way home when you have been denied the way we have."

After the game, he was furious with the decision to allow the winning goal to stand: "It was a farce," Strachan told Sky Sports News. "He [van Nistelrooy] was interfering with play. As soon as the ball was touched he was going towards the ball. He was there to try to get one up on us. You might as well scrap offside now if you are not going to rule that offside."

Even the goalscorer felt that the visitors had been unfortunate: "We were lucky to win," admitted van Nistelrooy. "Southampton deserved more than they got. They created a lot of chances, had some good situations in front of goal and Tim Howard made some excellent saves."

However, Southampton did get nothing from the game and they will look to make amends this weekend.

Fulham of course have already been to Old Trafford this season and won.

source: 4thegame