Clinging onto their Premier League status by a thread, basement club Southampton will endeavour to claim maximum points when they welcome Fulham to St Mary's on Saturday.
The Saints will be relegated to the Championship if they fail to beat the Cottagers, who are hoping to consolidate their position in the top half of the table.
Match preview
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Southampton's 11-year stay in the Premier League is on the verge of coming to an end following Monday's eventful 4-3 defeat away against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest.
The Saints were trailing by two goals on three separate occasions and fought back courtesy of strikes from Carlos Alcaraz, Lyanco and James Ward-Prowse, but their valiant efforts were ultimately in vain as they were condemned to their 23rd league defeat of the campaign.
Victories over Chelsea and Leicester City in February and March respectively seem like a distant memory for Ruben Selles, who has since endured a torrid 10-game winless run, including seven defeats, with his side conceding 23 goals in the process.
Southampton remain at the foot of the table but as a result of both Forest and Everton winning on Monday, the Saints now sit eight points adrift of safety with just three games remaining.
Selles and co enter Saturday's contest with the worst home record in the Premier League having picked up just 10 points from 17 matches at St Mary's – the club's worst-ever points return on home soil in a single Football League season.
However, one glimmer of hope for the Saints is that they have remarkably lost only one of their 31 home league meetings with Fulham and are unbeaten in each of their last 21 home encounters with the Cottagers since a 2-1 defeat back in October 1935.
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Fulham were also involved in a goal-laden Premier League fixture last time out as they ended a three-game losing streak with an emphatic 5-3 victory at home against Leicester City on Monday.
Despite the absence of top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic and chief playmaker Andreas Pereira, Marco Silva's men had no problems breaching Leicester's leaky backline, with Willian (2), Tom Cairney (2) and Carlos Vinicius all on the scoresheet to help the Cottagers claim their 14th league win of the season – their joint-most victories in a single Premier League campaign.
Fulham remain 10th in the Premier League table and are on course to secure an impressive top-half finish 12 months on from winning the Championship title, as they currently sit six points clear of 11th-placed Chelsea, albeit having played a game more.
Silva's side will be confident of success on Saturday against a struggling Southampton side who they beat 2-1 at Craven Cottage in December, courtesy of a James Ward-Prowse own goal and a match-winner from Joao Palhinha.
However, Fulham's aforementioned away record at Southampton is poor to say the least, while they have lost five of their last six top-flight matches on the road, including their last two without reply; Fulham have not lost three successive games without scoring since December 2018.
Team News
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Southampton centre-back Armel Bella-Kotchap is ruled out for the rest of the season after picking up a hamstring injury in the first half of Monday's defeat at Forest, and he joins Romain Perraud (ankle) Mohammed Salisu (groin) and Juan Larios (thigh) in the treatment room.
Valentino Livramento has returned to first-team training after 13 months out with an ACL injury, but the right-back will not be involved this weekend, while top scorer Che Adams is doubtful and will be assessed ahead of kickoff.
In the absence of Bella-Kotchap, either Lyanco or Duje Caleta-Car is set to start in central defence alongside Jan Bednarek, while Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Kyle Walker-Peters will continue as full-backs.
January signings Kamaldeen Sulemana and Paul Onuachu as well as Adam Armstrong will all be pushing to start in attack, with one of the latter two expected to replace Adams if he is not fit to start.
Fulham, meanwhile, are able to welcome back Mitrovic from an eight-game suspension, and the Serbian – who missed a late penalty in the win over Southampton earlier this season – is expected to be recalled to the first XI, with Vinicius the unfortunate one who will likely make way.
However, the Cottagers will be without injured duo Pereira (ankle) and Tim Ream (broken arm) for the rest of the season, while Daniel James (thigh) and Layvin Kurzawa (knee) are also recovering in the treatment room.
Neeskens Kebano has made four fleeting substitute appearances since recovering from a long-term Achilles injury, and the winger will be pushing to start ahead of Harry Wilson on Saturday.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Walker-Peters, Lyanco, Bednarek, Maitland-Niles; Lavia, Ward-Prowse; Walcott, Alcaraz, S. Armstrong; A. Armstrong
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Leno; Tete, Adarabioyo, Diop, Robinson; Reed, Palhinha; Wilson, Cairney, Willian; Mitrovic
We say: Southampton 1-3 Fulham
Southampton are fully aware of the importance of Saturday's fixture and they are expected to throw everything at Fulham in their bid to claim three much-needed points and keep their slim hopes of survival alive.
However, Fulham will be regarded as the favourites to come out on top at St Mary's and the return of top scorer Mitrovic should give them a boost to claim maximum points, ultimately condemning the Saints to relegation.
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Top tip
Oliver Thomas
