Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino has stressed the importance of his sides’ 1-0 win in the FA Cup away to Fulham.

Pellegrino’s side had been on a run of nine games without a win, and the Saints are looking likely to be in the mix for the relegation battle in the Premier League. But, Southampton’s manager believes that this win will spur them on to better results in the league.

Pellegrino said: “It was an important win for us and to progress in this competition, so hopefully this game will be a base to improve every week. On the pitch we were solid and composed, but Fulham are a good team technically, but we looked like a threat in the counter attack and really should had scored a second goal.”

A much needed win

Southampton only needed one goal to ease past Fulham, as James Ward-Prowse scored his first goal of the season when the English U21 midfielder found himself open after a defensive mistake from the hosts, allowing the winger to turn into space, and neatly place the ball past the reach of David Button, to score the only goal of the game.

Jack Stephens almost made it 2-0 15 minutes from time when the 23-year-old defender’s header smacked the underside of the bar and back out of play. The Southampton players protested that the ball crossed the line, but the referee’s watch did not go off.

Winter moves for the Saints

Pellegrino also hinted that the Saints could be in the market for a new player following the £75 million sale of defender Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool.

The Argentine manager said: “Hopefully we can bring somebody that can help us to be stronger. This is our target now, and we know that the market is difficult, but we can work around that.”

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Dylan Walsh
Student at the University of Brighton, 20-years-old, Twitter: @dylanwalsh_