Before The Whistle: Southampton v Fulham

Written by Drew Heatley on 25th April 2025

Southampton need just a point to avoid being the joint-worst side in Premier League history.

Along come Fulham.

So goes the script in our mind, anyway. But football’s played on grass and not in our swedes, so hopefully we can go to St. Mary’s on Saturday and reignite our push for the Europa Conference League.

We’ll certainly need to – as anything less than three points probably spells game over for our continental dreams.

Bournemouth host Manchester United at the Vitality, while Brighton welcome 17th-placed West Ham to the AmEx. Both will look to score some points there.

Brentford, who still have an outside chance of eighth, travel to Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest, so hopefully the Tricky Trees will swat the bees.

We will have to cope without Rodrigo Muniz again on Saturday. The Brazilian is still out, with Marco Silva worryingly adding that it will be “hard to have him back soon”. Emile Smith Rowe could return to the squad after sitting out our last game with a back injury.

Speaking of returning from injury, Silva says Harry Wilson will be involved against the Saints. It’s a welcome shot in the arm as we’re missing some fire power with Muniz out. It certainly gives Silva more creative options.

The worst-case scenario is we end the weekend four points off eighth with just 12 left to play for. But we could also find ourselves back in the driver’s seat, as many as two points ahead of Bournemouth. So strap yourself in for another rollercoaster ride – there’s a long way to go yet.