The Ivan Juric era at Southampton could commence on Sunday afternoon, when the Saints host Fulham in their final Premier League battle before Christmas.
The managerless hosts gave a good account of themselves against Liverpool in the EFL Cup in midweek, a few days after Marco Silva's men held the league leaders to a 2-2 stalemate.
Match preview
© Imago
Assuming there is no unforeseen paperwork hitch at the last minute, former Roma and Torino head coach Juric is to be sworn in as Southampton's new manager in the coming hours, and the Saints are working tooth and nail to have him in the dugout for the visit of the Cottagers.
Juric - whose short-lived Roma spell left a lot to be desired - takes the reins from Russell Martin after last weekend's embarrassing 5-0 home hammering at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur, who struck all five of their goals before the half-time whistle and condemned the ex-Saints boss to his inevitable fate.
However, a Southampton side under the temporary tutelage of Simon Rusk were only beaten 2-1 by EFL Cup holders Liverpool in Wednesday's quarter-final, but that was another blot on their 2024-25 report card, which now reads six losses and a draw from their last seven games.
Juric could do worse than turn to survival specialist Sam Allardyce for relegation dogfight inspiration, as his 20th-placed Southampton team are nine points adrift of safety in the Premier League table, and they will spend Christmas Day in last place for the first time since 1992.
Only Brentford have also accrued just a measly one point on the road in this season's top flight, although the Bees' abysmal away record is balanced out by their league-high home points total, and not since February 2023 have Southampton come up trumps in a Premier League away fixture.
© Imago
Such statistics highlight just how difficult Juric's great escape mission will be, but while Southampton welcome a new man into the St Mary's offices, Silva could not be more settled in the Fulham chair as the Cottagers seek to enhance their European credentials.
A magnificent opportunity to dent Liverpool's title aspirations arose at Anfield when Andy Robertson took the walk of shame in the first half, but Fulham failed to cling onto a pair of one-goal leads against Arne Slot's 10 men, shipping a late equaliser to the ever-clinical Diogo Jota.
Regardless, taking points off of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in the past four gameweeks is a commendable feat for Fulham, who are eighth in the table at present, but such is the tight nature of the standings that the Cottagers could spend December 25 as high as fifth or as low as 13th.
Clean sheets remain hard to come by for the Cottagers, who only have one shut-out to show from their last 10 matches, but no team in the Premier League is on a longer scoring sequence than Fulham, who have made the net bulge in each of their last 15 top-flight battles.
Silva's side also helped condemn Southampton to the drop in 2022-23, doing the double over the Saints with a 2-1 home win and 2-0 away success, prior to which they won just one of 11 matches against the South Coast side between 2005 and 2021.
Team News
© Imago
Confirmation of Juric's arrival and whether he will take charge of this game is yet to arrive, but Southampton's setup this weekend should not differ too much from the Croatian's philosophy, as he was been a proponent of using three centre-backs during his time in Serie A.
However, Jack Stephens will not be among the defenders in contention - he is serving the last of a four-game ban - while Will Smallbone (thigh), Gavin Bazunu (Achilles) and Ross Stewart (calf) are definitely unavailable too.
In brighter news, Aaron Ramsdale could make his comeback from a finger injury on Sunday, where he will no doubt replace Alex McCarthy if fit enough, and Kyle Walker-Peters is likely to return after missing the Liverpool loss with a knock.
Fulham, meanwhile, must make do without playmaker Andreas Pereira due to a yellow-card ban; the Brazilian was booked in the ninth minute against Liverpool and was perhaps fortunate not to see red for a poor tackle on Ryan Gravenberch.
While Pereira will watch on helplessly, Calvin Bassey and Tom Cairney are now back from their own suspensions, and Joachim Andersen (calf) is also expected to be fit enough to take part.
On a negative note, the knee injury that Kenny Tete sustained at Anfield will rule him out for eight to 10 weeks; he joins Reiss Nelson (thigh) and Harrison Reed (knee) in the treatment room.
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Lukic, Berge; Iwobi, Smith Rowe, Wilson; Jimenez
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Wood; Sugawara, Downes, Fernandes, Walker-Peters; Dibling, Armstrong; Archer
We say: Fulham 2-0 Southampton
Both teams have scored in each of Fulham's eight Premier League home matches this season, but that trend will surely be bucked here, even if Southampton do arrive with a new manager bounce.
While the Saints have struggled for offensive inspiration all season, Fulham have not failed to score since the opening day and should make light work of their opponents, whose five-point total if they lose would be the joint second-lowest in Premier League history at Christmas.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
