Claudio Ranieri has called on Fulham to "clean everything and restart" as he faces Southampton in his first match in charge on Saturday.

Ranieri has been appointed to replace Slavisa Jokanovic and try to turn things around after a six-match losing streak.

Ranieri won the title in his last spell in the Premier League with Leicester, but his primary aim now is to shore up Fulham's defence, which has conceded 31 goals this season.

"Forget the past. Today I said this, restart every time, we can win, lose, clean and restart tomorrow. I show them some videos from the previous game and I said what is right and what is wrong," he said.

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"This week, I work hard and they (the players) follow me very well, but it's not possible in very few days to arrange everything. I hope to maintain the clean sheet and then if we can score, it's much better."

Southampton have only made a marginally better start to the season than Fulham.

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They are three points above their weekend opponents and manager Mark Hughes is reportedly under pressure.

"There will always be speculation, I call it noise," he said. "At the moment the noise is around me, it's the nature of the role... the only way it goes away is by getting positive results and positive performances."

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Team news

Kevin McDonald and Andre Anguissa are unavailable for Fulham.

However, left-back Joe Bryan could return after seven weeks out with a hamstring injury.

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Southampton will assess Danny Ings' fitness, but Hughes said on Thursday that the striker is a big doubt.

Ings limped off the pitch with a suspected hamstring problem during Southampton's 1-1 league draw with Watford earlier this month and trained separately during the international break.

Southampton are without the suspended Ryan Betrand so Matt Targett is likely to start. Mohamed Elyounoussi (hamstring) and Mario Lemina (thigh) should be available.

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Opta stats

• Fulham have lost just one of their last 14 home league games against Southampton (W7 D6), though it was in their last such meeting in February 2014 (0-3).
• In all competitions, Southampton are unbeaten in their last six meetings with Fulham (W3 D3), winning the last three without conceding.
• Southampton won their last away Premier League game in London vs Crystal Palace - they've not won consecutive league games in the capital since 2014-15 (vs Crystal Palace and QPR).
• Fulham have lost their last six Premier League games - they've not lost seven league games in a row since a run of 11 between December 1961 and February 1962.
• No side has failed to score in more Premier League games than Southampton this season (6), though Fulham are the only side yet to keep a clean sheet in the competition so far.
• Fulham have conceded 31 goals in their 12 Premier League games so far - only in the 1925-26 second tier campaign have they conceded more at this stage of a league season (34).

Merson's prediction

I can't do Fulham they are all over the place. Fulham have to win this game. To be fair to them, I always felt sorry for Slavisa Jokanovic as I have always said that, if a team comes out of the Championship who should not really, they should be given the whole season. They got you into the dreamland and you do not become a bad manager, you just come up against better teams week in, week out.

The problem I have with this game is, let's be honest, Fulham have to win this game, so nothing really changes for me as they are going to play open and defensively, they are just not good enough.

I have said all along that their Achilles heel is Aleksandar Mitrovic. He is their best player, he has been great for them and scored goals, but because he has no pace, they can't play counter-attacking football. So they have to then play higher up the pitch and because they play so open, that is where they struggle.

So this is a hard game for new manager Claudio Ranieri to come into because they have to win it…

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (17/2 with Sky Bet)

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