Fulham Loss Gives Saints A Boost Ahead Of Bournemouth Game

The recent defeat to Brighton left some Saints supporters worried that the spectre of relegation was looming ominously as Fulham come up on the rails, but Friday night's result at Craven Cottage gave some breathing space.

Two months ago Saints were looking only one way and that was up the table and the FA Cup looked like being an added bonus for some glory.

But the worst run in the club's history has seen us drop down the table and slowly inch nearer the drop zone, Fulham's run of late meant that the gap closed and we sat yesterday afternoon only 7 points clear of the Cottagers.

Their home fixture against Leeds United was a big game for them , a very winnable home game and three points from that would take them out of the drop zone and for Saints we would be only 5 points above Newcastle who play Brighton this afternoon.

So most Saints supporters were hoping for a Leeds United win and they got it with the Yorkshire side winning 2-1, meaning Fulham stay 7 points behind us and have only 8 games left, one less than ourselves.

I now I would rather be in our position than theirs.

For Fulham this was a big defeat, they have now lost 3 out of the last 4 Premier League games and with only 8 left they have some tough ones left, they have to travel to Aston Villa, Arsenal, Chelsea & Manchester United, the latter two chasing a Champions League place and the former two still hopeful of a Europa League place.

Now this result is very welcome, but I can't help feel that come the end of the season we might regret it as it now pushes Leeds 6 points clear of us in the table.

But for now it is a boost for Ralph Hasenhuttl and his squad, the last thing they would want is to go into the game at Bournemouth with a feeling of apprehension about our Premier League position.

Now they can go and worry only about beating Bournemouth and if we do that we can go into the International break with enthusiasm and with Danny Ings and Theo Walcott returning for our games in April confidence as well.

The League table looks a little brighter this morning and we travel across the New Forest knowing that the League table can't get any worse for two weeks, hopefully the revival is already underway after the win at Sheffield United and will start to hit top gear now.

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