Fulham vs Southampton

Fulham’s hopes of finishing 2022 in the upper half of the Premier League are on the line as they meet rock-bottom Southampton at Craven Cottage this weekend.

Headline striker Aleksandar Mitrovic returned to the scoresheet following a lengthy spell on the sidelines as Fulham thrashed a nine-man Southampton 3-0 on Boxing Day to arrest a three-game winless Premier League streak (D1, L2). One point away from entering 2023 in the top ten, the ‘Cottagers’ can rely on their outrageous home run against Southampton, having lost just once in their last 16 league H2Hs at Craven Cottage (W8, D7). However, Marco Silva’s men have yet to overcome their consistency issues, as witnessed by their indifferent five-match Premier League form on home turf (W1, D2, L2). That could be a problem, considering they’ve won none of their last three top-flight duels against Southampton (D1, L2).

On the other hand, newly-appointed Southampton manager Nathan Jones suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on his league debut at St Mary’s Stadium, nailing his side to the bottom of the standings. Playing on the road is unlikely to help Jones turn Southampton’s fortunes around, with the ‘Saints’ losing eight of their last ten away league matches (W2). On top of that, a slender 1-0 triumph at Bournemouth in mid-October remains their solitary clean sheet across their last 22 Premier League outings on the road, casting more doubt on their ability to fashion a mid-season resurgence. If that’s not enough to make visiting fans worry, Southampton have gone winless in their final league match in any of the last 11 calendar years (D6, L5).