Match Preview
Fulham versus Southampton
FA Cup 5th Round 25/26 at Craven Cottage
Sunday 8th March KO: 12:00
Referee:
Jarred Gillett (Australia)
Live on TNT Sports 2
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Fulham welcome Southampton to Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon for the fifth round of this season's FA Cup campaign.
The Cottagers booked their spot in the tie after winning 2-1 away at Stoke City in round four, while the Saints edged past Leicester City by the same scoreline following extra time at St Mary's Stadium.
Wednesday's loss at home to West Ham United ended Fulham's run of three successive wins in all competitions, which started with their triumph away to Stoke in the previous round of the FA Cup.
Being out of the League Cup and with little to play for in the Premier League, currently sat 10th in the table, the FA Cup gives Marco Silva's men a great chance of fighting for silverware this season.
With the Cottagers never winning the competition before, their only final appearance being a 1-0 loss against West Ham in 1975, the west-London outfit will certainly feel that a club of their stature has some history to write in the world's oldest tournament.
However, Fulham do have a rather disappointing recent record at this phase of the competition, with their 3-0 quarter-final defeat to eventual winners Crystal Palace last season being only their second match at that stage over the previous 15 campaigns.
Having faced Premier League opposition in each of their previous three fifth round matches, Fulham will be happier that this time around they face Championship side Southampton, who they have not lost any of their previous four meetings with, the most recent of which being a 2-1 Cottagers win at St Mary's Stadium last season.
Unbeaten in their previous nine matches in all competitions, Southampton are currently the form side in the Championship and sit seventh in the league table, having overturned their poor stretch of results from the end of 2025.
Winning 3-2 away at Doncaster Rovers before beating Leicester City 2-1 after extra time in round four, the Saints are featuring at this stage of the competition for the fifth time in the previous six seasons, bowing out on only one occasion to Premier League opposition.
Unlike Sunday's hosts, Southampton are previous winners of the competition, beating Manchester United 1-0 in the 1976 final, which is made even more impressive by the fact they were a second division side at the time.
Although they are certainly the underdogs this weekend, the Saints have a respectable recent record at Craven Cottage, losing only two of their previous eight matches there and winning three over that span.
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This is the fourth FA Cup tie between Fulham and Southampton, with the Cottagers progressing in the third round in 1998-99 after a replay and the Saints winning in the second round in 1914-15 and third round in 2017-18.
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Southampton have lost three of their last four matches against Fulham (D1), all in the Premier League in the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons. The Saints last beat them in May 2021 under Ralph Hasenhüttl, a 3-1 home top-flight victory.
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Fulham are looking to reach the FA Cup quarter-final stage for a third time in the last four seasons (also 2022-23 and 2024-25). Their previous three quarter-final appearances came over a period of 20 seasons before this.
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Kevin has been involved in three of Fulham’s five FA Cup goals this season (2 goals, 1 assist), while he had the most shots (11) and most touches in the opposition’s box (22) of any Premier League player across the third and fourth rounds in 2025-26.
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Since beating Manchester United in the 1976 final, Southampton have been eliminated in seven of their eight FA Cup ties against top-flight opponents while playing outside of the top division at the time. The one exception was a 2-0 win against Blackpool in the third round in 2010-11.
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Oriol Romeu could make his 20th FA Cup appearance in this match – the Spaniard started for Southampton in their last FA Cup tie against Fulham in January 2018 in his first spell, a 1-0 win under Mauricio Pellegrino.
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Source Freddie Cotton at SportsMole/BBCSports