Saturday in the Premier League was about relegation. With so many teams in the battle to stay up, that is going to be the case often int he final three months of the season, but with bottom half teams squaring off in three matches today, that was especially the case.
Premier League wrap: Fulham fall again, Crystal Palace closer to the drop
Fulham are all but down, while Crystal Palace and West Brom aren’t doing too much better.
Cardiff City 3-1 Fulham
The Cottagers' hopes of avoiding the drop shrunk on Saturday in Wales, where Cardiff waxed them. Steven Caulker terrorized Fulham, not just defensing excellently, but scoring twice. The defender's first tally came when a deflected cross fell right to him a yard from goal to bundle over the line and later, he rose to head home his second in a more conventional goal for the big man. Lewis Holtby did his best to get Fulham back in the match by converting from three yards, but Maarten Stekelenburg saved a shot off of a falling Sascha Riether and watched the ball then bounce into the net to ruin any chance of a Cottagers' comeback.
What happens when a team that controls possession, but does little with it plays a Tony Pulis side? Nothing.
Southampton went to Selhurst Park, where they looked dangerous, but never really threatened. Crystal Palace looked completely out-matched, but occasionally went forward and earned a set piece or sent in a cross that gave them half a chance. That was the entire match, with some shoddy defending on one play allowing Jay Rodriguez to go in alone on goal, beat Julian Speroni and score the winner.
The Canaries and Potters entered Saturday hoping to move a little further from the drop and that's just what they got, although both sides will feel like they could have done more to get a little more breathing room. Bradley Johnson put Norwich ahead with a header off of a Canaries corner, but Sebastien Bassong took down John Guidetti in the area and John Walters converted to equalize. After a dull first half, both teams had chances to win it in the second half, but each could only convert once so they had to settle for split points.
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