Marco Silva’s Fulham have proven pretty resilient in responding to setbacks during his four years at Craven Cottage. But back-to-back defeats to fellow continental contenders, especially the way a possible first league SW6 derby double slipped away in the space of ten minutes last season, has to have hit the confidence. The crazy thing about this unpredictable Premier League season is that those losses are not terminal: the Whites remain only a point behind eighth-placed Bournemouth and can justifiably believe that they can still beat Fulham’s highest ever top flight points tally and push for a place in Europe next season.

There’s no doubt that the continued absence of Rodrigo Muniz, so impressive this year in front of goal, is a significant blow. Raul Jimenez remains a highly effective forward for club and country – and appears likely to extend his stay at the Cottage beyond the summer – and I felt the Mexican veteran led the line impressively last weekend despite not having the sort of service he thrives upon. The problem for Silva has always been that the club failed to replace a certain former Serbian number nine, whilst gleefully accepting the big money from Birmingham City for Jay Stansfield on deadline day – leaving Silva’s only other senior striker as Carlos Vinicius, who was sighted for the first time in months as his side sought to recover from the shock of the derby slipping away on Sunday.

Other plus points are the return of Kenny Tete, one of the league’s leading right backs, and Harry Wilson, whose goals and assists made such a difference before he broke his metatarsal against Manchester United in February. The pair – perhaps only to briefly reunited if we believe the rumours about the Dutch defender looking to move on after rejecting a new contract – will strengthen the Whites down the right flank where it has felt a bit mix and match of late, although it remains to be seen whether Wilson is able to last a full ninety minutes.

It is pleasing that, according to Silva, Sessegnon and Lukic have recovered from the knocks that led to the pair having to be substituted last week and are fit to play. The composition of the side that seeks to avoid a third straight league reverse for the first time since December 2023 since they was plenty to critique in Fulham’s approach, game management and passiveness as Enzo Maresca’s side dominated the second half with both Tariq George and Pedro Neto having the freedom of Hammersmith and Fulham to turn the tide so conclusively.

Southampton looked fairly fluent under Simon Rusk at the Cottage after Christmas and could easily have come away with three points. The Saints were excellent at West Ham last week and, as Simon Peach suggested in an excellent edition of Cottage Talk on Thursday, they have been in a lot of games this season. Tyler Dibling is obviously the teenage talent that everyone has been raving about – but there a number of other names to watch out for a side that certainly isn’t without attacking talent. Paul Onuachu certainly knows where the goal is and the Nigerian striker’s battle with Calvin Bassey should certainly prove entertaining, whilst Kamaldeen Sulemana is capable of causing carnage along the left flank. The class of former Sporting and Estoril midifielder Mateus Fernandes should be well known to Silva – and stopping him will be crucial to getting Fulham on the foot in a fixture that fills me with dread.

The Saints might well be down but they have already taken a point from Fulham this season and will be desperate to inch ahead of Derby County’s total from 2007/08. The wretched Rams took two points off the Whites that year as Roy Hodgson’s side eventually escaped by the skin of their teeth. This certainly isn’t going to be a walkover.

MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, Castagne, Diop, Cuenca; Lukic, Berge; Wilson, R. Sessegnon, Iwobi; Jimenez. Subs: Benda, Bassey, Andersen, Reed, Cairney, Willian, Traore, Pereira, Vinicius.