Southampton lifted themselves out of the Premier League relegation zone and pushed beleaguered Fulham further towards the drop with a 2-0 victory at St Mary's Stadium on Wednesday.

Ralph Hasenhuttl's side came into the clash on the back of a four-match winless run, so the sight of the Cottagers – yet to register an away league success this season – was perhaps a welcome one.

Oriol Romeu netted his first goal of the campaign midway through the opening half after Fulham failed to clear a corner, and James Ward-Prowse doubled the lead shortly before the interval by converting a rebound.

The result hauls the Saints out of the bottom three and two points clear of Cardiff City, while Claudio Ranieri's men remain mired in trouble, 10 points shy of their 17th-placed opponents with only 10 matches remaining.

Hasenhuttl made three changes from Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Arsenal and one of the players recalled, Charlie Austin, saw a goal disallowed in the 15th minute for a barge on Sergio Rico.

There was no problem for the Saints eight minutes later, however, as Rico's punch reached Romeu on the edge of the box and the Spaniard sent a first-time effort through the bodies and in.

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Aleksandar Mitrovic wasted half-chances as Fulham belatedly threatened but five minutes before the break they were two down as Rico parried Nathan Redmond's effort and the onrushing Ward-Prowse tapped home.

Mitrovic blazed over from a presentable opportunity less than a minute into the second period and Fulham probably sensed it would not be their night when Ryan Babel's deflected effort struck the bar and bounced to safety with the final quarter-hour approaching.