Our live stream ahead of Boxing days Premier League match, Fulham vs Southampton is now up, kicking off at 15.00 GMT
You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, lineups, predictions and much more…
Fulham come into the game hoping to extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to four matches, having drawn their last three.
The hosts played out a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United last time out with a controversially-awarded Callum Wilson penalty preventing Fulham from taking all three points at the St James’ Park
Should Parker’s men manage to take the spoils against Southampton – which would be just their third league win of the campaign – Fulham will temporarily lift themselves out of the relegation zone into 16th before Brighton and Burnley take to the pitch on Sunday.
Southampton come into the game off the back 1-0 home defeat to Manchester City, thanks to a first half goal from Raheem Sterling.
Saints were bright and bubbly for large parts but lost lots of their threat in attack when Danny Ings was replaced with a hamstring injury just before the break.
Hasenhuttl’s men have lost some ground on the European-chasing pack with that defeat to City, but Southampton are still just two points off third-placed Manchester United – who do have a game in hand – and a win would see the Saints at least overtake Tottenham Hotspur before their clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
Southampton have strung together a six-game unbeaten run away from home in the league since September’s defeat to Crystal Palace – no mean feat considering that Hasenhuttl’s men have travelled to Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Wolves already this season.
Fulham and Southampton last met in August 2019 in a Carabao Cup tie, with Southampton running out 1-0 winner away at Craven Cottage…
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Ralph Hasenhuttl
On Injuries…
“After the very intense last week with three games in six days, you can see that some guys are struggling a little bit.”
“It’s early in the week, but I can only tell you who didn’t train so far; that is Ingsy, Jannik Vestergaard, Redmond. Ori is suspended, so we have a few issues.”
“Stuey (Armstrong) had a problem with his hand, with somebody stepping on it. I think it’s not a problem, but we have a few issues, so we must have a look in the next two or three days.”
On Fulham
“They didn’t have such a good start and needed a little bit of time to adapt to the Premier League, but then they showed how tough they are to beat,”
“They are well organised against the ball, with the ball they have good quality and are calm on it. They produce good opportunities with quality in front and they don’t give a lot of chances away, so even teams like Liverpool struggle to win there.
“It is a tough place to go, but, as always, there is a chance to win, and if we make a good job and concentrate on our qualities that we have then we have also shown that we can beat such teams.”
On preparation for Fulham
“We have a difficult week so far, with a few problems with injuries, but it’s a good week to work on some new things, and having a normal week for training is never bad for us,”
“Especially the last game was by far the highest test in terms of running, sprinting and working hard for the team, and this being the third game of the week I think it was tough for the players and maybe the reason now we have some issues with injuries.”
“We’re still disappointed we didn’t get anything for the hard work the guys did, but we have shown what we have improved so far in this season and over the last couple of months, but it’s now a completely different game against what is also a very, very strong side.”
“We played them before the season in a friendly and it was a 2-1 defeat and it was tough to play there, so we are warned and we go there with hopefully a better plan and a better way of playing football.”
FORM:
Fulham Premier League form: LWLDDD
Southampton Premier League form: DLWWDL
LINEUPS:
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Areola; Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo, Robinson; Lemina, Anguissa; Reid, Loftus-Cheek, Lookman; Mitrovic
Southampton possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Walker-Peters, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand; Djenepo, Diallo, Ward-Prowse, Redmond; Adams, Walcott
THATSAGOAL TIP:
Southampton to Win – 13/10 with FanTeam
The Saints lost to Manchester City in their last outing thanks to a narrow 1-0 scoreline. Despite that, Southampton can be pleased with their performance and their season up until now. Ralph Hassenhuttl has transformed this side during his tenure and a top-half spot looks likely at the very least.
Fulham meanwhile have picked up in performance levels recently but are back in the relegation zone thanks to Burnley’s Monday night win. Southampton are the stronger side and have shown they are capable even without Danny Ings in the XI. As such, the odds are awfully kind at over evens for an away win.
Time to take a look at our Fulham vs Southampton live match stream as it happens…
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