Premier League: Fulham vs Southampton preview

New Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri will start his spell in command of the Cottagers on Saturday, when they host Southampton at Craven Cottage in London. The two teams have met in the FA Cup last season and Southampton pulled through with a 1-0 victory thanks to a first-half goal scored by James Ward-Prowse. The Saints also won both Premier League matches against the Cottagers during the 2013-2014 season, when Fulham got relegated to the Championship. Overall, Southampton have won three of the last six direct matches against Fulham, the Saints have not lost against the Cottagers since 2004. Fulham had a terrible season so far, with nine out of twelve Premier League matches lost, just one victory since the start of the campaign and seven consecutive defeats in all competitions before the last international break. Those results led to the dismissal of manager Slavisa Jokanovic, and the club announced the appointment of former Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri on the same day. The Italian manager will have a tough task in saving the Cottagers from relegation, but his experience could make a difference. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Kevin McDonald are the only injury concerns for the home side. Southampton haven't been doing much better this season, they are just above the relegation zone after having collected just eight points from the first twelve Premier League matches of the campaign. Moreover, the Saints have won just one match in the Premier League so far, and that was all the way back at the start of September. However, they can be happy with having lost just one of their last four matches, the other three were draws against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Watford. Ryan Bertrand is suspended for Saturday's match, while Mario Lemina and Mohamed Elyounoussi are injury doubts for manager Mark Hughes. Probable line-ups: Fulham: Bettinelli - Fosu-Mensah, Ream, Mawson, Bryan - Vietto, Seri, Cairney, Sessegnon - Schurrle - Mitrovic Southampton: McCarthy - Soares, Yoshida, Hoedt, Targett - Hojbjerg, Lemina - Gabbiadini, Armstrong, Redmond - Austin My prediction: Fulham to win 1-0, the new manager should give the Cottagers a boost, while the Saints will most likely sack Mark Hughes very soon. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Fulham win - 2.62 Draw - 3.40 Southampton win - 2.87