Marco Silva insisted that he stays absolutely targeted on Fulham amid hyperlinks to a possible swap to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the summertime.
Silva has been mooted as a doable substitute for Ange Postecoglou, who’s dealing with continuous hypothesis over his future following a poor Premier League marketing campaign.
Fulham discover themselves ninth within the desk with the opportunity of incomes European soccer subsequent season, one thing Silva mentioned was his precedence for the remainder of the time period.
“My head is at Fulham. We don’t management all the things that occurs round us. It’s not a part of me,” Silva mentioned.
“With such vital video games week after week, our whole focus is right here, and we management what we will, which is making ready the gamers for the subsequent video games.”
The Cottagers do, nonetheless, come into their upcoming Premier League conflict towards relegated Southampton on the again of a defeat to fellow European hopefuls, Chelsea.
Two late objectives from Tyrique George and Pedro Neto accomplished the turnaround for the Blues, with Silva annoyed by his crew’s late collapse at Craven Cottage.
“They began to play in our half. I actually consider the outcome may be very harsh for us, however the second half was not our degree, and we misplaced the sport,” Silva added.
One other man linked with a transfer to north London subsequent season is Southampton’s Tyler Dibling, who has impressed throughout his debut season within the Premier League.
The 19-year-old has made 29 top-flight appearances this marketing campaign, scoring twice and notching one help, along with his shows attracting the eye of some massive golf equipment.
Southampton have reportedly put a £100million price ticket on Dibling, with the likes of Newcastle United and Manchester United additionally eager on his companies.
“There are just a few nicknames going round,” mentioned Dibling. “It’s all jokes. No person takes it significantly. It’s only a quantity. It’s all enjoyable.
“‘Rambo [Aaron Ramsdale] loves it to be truthful. I’ll miss a shot in coaching, and he’ll simply go ’90 million’ or ’80 million’ because it goes down.
“It’s all good enjoyable, however I’m simply making an attempt to practise on daily basis and to get higher. I simply go in to coach the very best I can on daily basis and work arduous.
“On the finish of the day, I really like Southampton. I’ve been right here since I used to be eight. It’s such an awesome crew, and I’m working to do massive issues with them.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Southampton – Mateus Fernandes
In a uncommon away level for Southampton this season, Fernandes was as soon as once more the standout participant for the Saints towards West Ham United final day trip.
He ended the competition having created extra probabilities (three), performed extra passes into the ultimate third (22) and produced extra crosses (9) than any of his team-mates.
Fulham – Alex Iwobi
Iwobi is having fun with his greatest Premier League season by way of objectives scored (9) and general objective involvements (14).
Nonetheless, simply considered one of his 9 strikes this time period has come outdoors of London, although he can be assured of discovering the again of the online towards a struggling Saints crew.
MATCH PREDICTION: FULHAM WIN
Fulham have received two of their final three Premier League video games towards Southampton (D1), as many as that they had of their earlier 11 (D5 L4).
However the Cottagers have misplaced their final three Premier League away video games, as many as of their earlier 16 on the highway (W8 D5). Two of those three defeats have come on the south coast (vs Brighton and Bournemouth).
Southampton, in the meantime, had been unbeaten in 21 house league video games towards Fulham between 1937 and 2021 (W15 D6), however misplaced the final such assembly 2-0 in Might 2023, a outcome that confirmed their relegation from the Premier League.
Saints have misplaced 13 Premier League house video games this season, together with 10 of their final 11 (D1). The one sides to ever lose 14+ house matches in a single marketing campaign within the competitors had been Sunderland in 2002-03 (14), the Black Cats once more in 2005-06 (14), Huddersfield City in 2018-19 (14), and Watford in 2021-22 (15).
They’ve additionally conceded 78 objectives within the Premier League this season, their most in a league marketing campaign since 1971-72 (80), and their most ever in a 20-team league. Certainly, they’ve saved simply two clear sheets this time period, although a kind of was within the reverse fixture towards Fulham.
Southampton have confronted extra photographs (579) and extra photographs on the right track (229) than every other prime flight facet this season. Their common of 17.6 photographs and 6.9 photographs on the right track confronted per sport is their highest on report (since 2003-04) in a single Premier League marketing campaign.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Southampton – 22%
Draw – 23.4%
Fulham – 54.6%