Ranieri off to a winning start at the Cottage
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice as Claudio Ranieri won his first match as Fulham boss 3-2 to pile pressure on Southampton manager Mark Hughes.
Stuart Armstrong, who impressed in Scotland’s two victories during the international break, netted a brace – his first Saints goals since his move from Celtic in the summer – either side of strikes from Mitrovic and Andre Schurrle for Fulham.
Ranieri praised the character of his Fulham players, but warned further improvement is required.
“Look, for us it’s an important match,” the former Chelsea and Leicester boss said. “Everybody is very, very pleased, but it’s a little step. It’s not an easy job for everybody, but I believe.
“I believed until the end. I asked the players to fight until the end.
“We played a good match, but we conceded too many chances to the opponents.
“We have to improve a lot. We have to work hard to improve tactically.”
Visiting supporters booed the late substitution of Armstrong, not appreciating the midfielder had cramp.
Hughes, who felt Saints deserved to win, said: “It’s all quite predictable. I don’t think anybody’s surprised by it.
“Everybody’s frustrated. Our fans have been witness to similar games in the past, where we’ve done OK and that frustration of not getting the result over the line is hurting us at the moment.”
Claude Puel declared himself proud of his Leicester side after they came from behind to draw 1-1 at Brighton with 10 men. The Foxes appeared to have it all to do after Glenn Murray opened the scoring for the hosts and James Maddison was sent off after picking up two yellow cards in as many minutes.
But Leicester rallied and were the better team after the interval as Jamie Vardy came off the bench to earn a 1-1 draw with a late penalty.
Asked if he was proud of his players, Puel replied: “Yes, of course.
“I am proud about our collective reaction, our game in the second half. We played like 11 men.”
Seagulls boss Chris Hughton admitted he was disheartened by his team’s inability to seal three points.
He said: “I’m hugely disappointed. “We were in a similar position last week, and you know when you play against a team of 10 men they are going to play a certain way.”