As soon as Southampton started playing against Fulham they owned the game. With their high pressure play Fulham barely got a chance to even get near Artur Boruc. With Nathaniel Clyne and Luke Shaw running high up the flanks most of the time and Rickie Lambert, Jay Rodriguez and Adam Lallana spending a lot of time near Maarten Stekelenburg, it’s not surprising that with 17 attempts to only 2 attempts of Fullham the Saints the rightful winners are.
The Saints took the lead in the 20th minute when Lambert headed home. James Ward-Prowse his corner flicked of Jay Rodriguez towards Rickie Lambert who managed to head the ball into the goal from a difficult angle. But heading a ball into the net is what Rickie is star in and heading this corner into the goal is exactly what he did! Why Berbatov let this great header hero get out of his sight is still a mystery.
Southampton kept on attacking and shooting for goal. Rickie could have made an hat trick if the right post would have been a little more to the right and if he hadn’t head the ball straight into Stekelenburg his hands. However Lambert did deserve making the opening goal, his 3rd goal so far in this competition.
Jay Rodriguez managed to double the Saints their score 2 minutes before half time when Adam Lallana played a deep cross towards Lambert. Lambert, on his turn, headed this ball towards Rodriguez who was standing near the other post. Resulting in Jay Rodriguez heading the ball into to goal, at the same side where Rickie’s header found its target earlier, and making it 2-0.
In the second half Southampton continued their high pressing game leaving little space for Fullham to make a break. James Ward-Prowse definitely is a young player to keep your eyes on. He took a lot of impressive corners this game and almost assisted Jay Rodriguez in making his second goal. When James crossed the ball in the 69th towards Jay who tried to get the ball in the net with an impressive acrobatic scissor-kick which, unfortunately, just went wide.
This was a well deserved win for Southampton who secured their sixth clean sheet. This season is like a fairytale coming true for the Saints who moved from the 7th spot in the Barclays Premier League to the 3rd place with 18 points out of 9 games. They have conceived only 3 goals against them so far.
It is enjoyable seeing a team like Southampton doing so well since this is only their second season since they came back into the Barclays Premier League. It’s also impressive to see how such a great team consist mainly out of British players. The Saints haven’t been this high in the Premier League since October 1989. This is a team to watch. Just like Mauricio Pochettino told his players: ‘There is no limit.’ So lets see how far they will get.
asaintsfcangel 