Fulham 0 Southampton 1: James Ward-Prowse strikes to ease pressure on Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino

The Virgil van Dijk saga may have bought him time with his board but Mauricio Pellegrino appears to have lost the fans after they turned on him despite Southampton ending their long wait for a win. 

After a miserable first half of a season for which central defender Van Dijk is the obvious scapegoat – one that had yielded just four victories and none in their last nine outings – Saints provided respite from the gloom with an FA Cup win at Fulham. 

But try telling that to their supporters, who chanted, “You don’t know what  you’re doing!” at their manager when he made a substitution at the end of the game. 

Insisting their reaction to him taking off Pierre-Emile Hojberg for Mario Lemina had not upset him, the Argentine said: “I understand when the fans have got their opinion but when I do something, I am doing something about the team, thinking about my players, not about the fans.” 

Admitting a big-name signing could help build bridges between him and  an increasingly hostile fanbase, Pellegrino appeared to confirm his interest in bringing Arsenal’s Theo Walcott back to the club but warned it would not be easy to get him. 

A first goal since April for James Ward-Prowse should nevertheless ease the pressure from above on Pellegrino in a week when chairman Ralf Krueger gave him a public vote of confidence, blaming the club’s “stand” over Liverpool’s alleged tapping-up of Van Dijk last summer for their current woes. 

Admittedly, there was more than an element of luck about the winner, Ward-Prowse slotting home left-footed on the half-hour mark after the ball broke to him off Fulham captain Kevin McDonald. 

But the margin of victory should have been even more comfortable. Shane Long, scorer of his first goal for almost a year on Tuesday against Crystal Palace, was offside by the narrowest of margins blasting home Steven Davis’s 10th-minute flick. 

Hojberg also wasted a glorious second-half chance, as did Jack Stephens when he powered a free header from a flicked-on corner against the crossbar.

For in-form Fulham Ryan Sessegnon was once again the star. The 17-year-old Englishman again making comparisons with Gareth Bale less and less fanciful. 

Manager Slavisa Jokanovic, who was left to rue some awful finishing by his  own side, played down the prospect of the rising teenage star leaving in January.