RALPH’S COFFIN DODGERS
Saints to breathe again with Fulham choking..
Romeu 23, Ward-Prowse 40
MATCH STATS
SOUTHAMPTON gave their own survival hopes a huge boost – while hammering another nail into Fulham’s coffin.
First-half goals from Oriol Romeu, his first since November 2017, and James Ward-Prowse (left) hauled Saints above Cardiff and out of the relegation places. But defeat left Claudio Ranieri’s hapless Whites 10 points from safety and staring at an instant return to the Championship.
The run-in for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men is not the worst – and Saints will believe an escape from a poor campaign is very much possible.
But for Fulham and former Premier League-winning boss Ranieri, the game looks up.
Their next three home matches are against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City.
And visiting fans furiously vented their anger at Ranieri as he replaced Tom Cairney with Luciano Vietto after 69 minutes. The Italian was taunted with chants of, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’.
Fulham have not won in the league at Southampton since 1935 – and the long wait goes on.
Saints’ Austrian manager had teed up the clash as a “must-win for Fulham... but a should-win for us” – and it was no surprise the early exchanges were tense and edgy.
But Saints took the lead after 23 minutes. Ryan Bertrand’s corner SOUTHAMPTON: FULHAM: REF: ATT:
was punched out by Sergio Rico only as far as Spaniard Romeu, who drove it into the net through a crowd of bodies.
It became a tall order for Fulham when the lead was extended four minutes before half-time. Nathan Redmond’s fierce drive was parried by Rico and Ward-Prowse won the race to reach the rebound.
Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic finally had a chance straight after the break – but skied his shot on the run over the bar.