Match Preview
Fulham vrs Southampton
Premier League Match Day 17 24/25 at Craven Cottage
Sunday 22nd December 2024 KO: 14:00
Referee:
Tim Robinson (West Sussex)
Live on SkySports
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Fulham manager Marco Silva, unlike the situation at Southampton, could not be more settled in the Fulham chair as the Cottagers seek to enhance their European credentials.
A magnificent opportunity to dent Liverpool's title aspirations arose at Anfield when Andy Robertson took the walk of shame in the first half, but Fulham failed to cling onto a pair of one-goal leads against Arne Slot's 10 men, shipping a late equaliser to the ever-clinical Diogo Jota.
Regardless, taking points off of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in the past four gameweeks is a commendable feat for Fulham, who are eighth in the table at present, but such is the tight nature of the standings that the Cottagers could spend December 25 as high as fifth or as low as 13th.
Clean sheets remain hard to come by for the Cottagers, who only have one shut-out to show from their last 10 matches, but no team in the Premier League is on a longer scoring sequence than Fulham, who have made the net bulge in each of their last 15 top-flight battles.
Silva's side also helped condemn Southampton to the drop in 2022-23, doing the double over the Saints with a 2-1 home win and 2-0 away success, prior to which they won just one of 11 matches against the South Coast side between 2005 and 2021.
The Ivan Juric era at Southampton could commence on Sunday afternoon when the Saints host Fulham.
The managerless hosts gave a good account of themselves against Liverpool in the EFL Cup in midweek, a few days after Marco Silva's men held the league leaders to a 2-2 stalemate.
Assuming there is no unforeseen paperwork hitch at the last minute, former Roma and Torino head coach Juric is to be sworn in as Southampton's new manager in the coming hours, and the Saints are working tooth and nail to have him in the dugout for the visit of the Cottagers.
Juric,whose short-lived Roma spell left a lot to be desired, takes the reins from Russell Martin after last weekend's embarrassing 5-0 home hammering at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur, who struck all five of their goals before the half-time whistle and condemned the ex Saints boss to his inevitable fate.
However, a Southampton side under the temporary tutelage of Simon Rusk were only beaten 2-1 by EFL Cup holders Liverpool in Wednesday's quarter-final, but that was another blot on their 2024-25 report card, which now reads six losses and a draw from their last seven games.
Juric could do worse than turn to survival specialist Sam Allardyce for relegation dogfight inspiration, as his 20th-placed Southampton team are nine points adrift of safety in the Premier League table, and they will spend Christmas Day in last place for the first time since 1992.
Only Brentford have also accrued just a measly one point on the road in this season's top flight, although the Bees' abysmal away record is balanced out by their league-high home points total, and not since February 2023 have Southampton come up trumps in a Premier League away fixture.
Such statistics highlight just how difficult Juric's great escape mission will be.
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Fulham are vying to win three successive league games against Southampton for the first time, having completed a double over the Saints in 2022-23.
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The Saints have registered just one victory in nine Premier League trips to Craven Cottage, drawing three and losing five.
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Fulham have lost just one of their past eight Premier League matches, winning three and drawing four.
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However, their last two Premier League defeats have both come at home, to Aston Villa in October and Wolves in November.
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Marco Silva's side have scored in a club record 15 successive Premier League games.
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Raul Jimenez needs one goal to draw level with Javier Hernandez on 53 as the Premier League's top scoring Mexican.
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Five of Jimenez's 52 top-flight goals have been scored against the Saints.
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Southampton have lost 13 of their 16 top-flight matches this season, drawing two and winning just one.
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The south coast side are winless in 15 Premier League away matches, drawing three and losing 12.
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They have lost eight of their past 10 Premier League fixtures in London, drawing one and winning the other.
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The Saints will be bottom of the top-flight table at Christmas for the first time in their history, regardless of this result.
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Adam Lallana is set to make his 300th Premier League appearance.
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Ben Brereton Diaz could equal Oliver Burke's Premier League record of 25 appearances without winning a game.
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Source Ben Knapton at SportsMole/BBCSports