Southampton interim boss Simon Rusk said that he hoped his side's goalless draw with Fulham will act as a catalyst in their bid to survive in the Premier League. 

The Saints saw the departure of manager Russell Martin after a 5-0 defeat to Tottenham last week left the side at the bottom of the table with only one win in 16 matches. 

With incoming boss Ivan Juric watching on from the stands, Rusk guided Southampton to a precious point against Fulham at Craven Cottage. 

The result saw Saints record a nil-nil draw in the Premier League for the first time since doing so at Old Trafford against Manchester United in March 2023. Only Everton (nine) have failed to score in more English top-flight games this season than the Saints (eight), however.

They also completed 80% of their passes (335/418), their lowest pass accuracy in a league game since May 2023 against Liverpool under Ruben Selles (74%).

"We wanted to build on solidity for the group, find that balance. We are the first team to deliver a clean sheet here this season," Rusk told BBC Sport. 

"We're delighted with that, and hopefully it can be a catalyst for the players to build on and move forwards."

A point on the road pic.twitter.com/a3jKAfbyZE

— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) December 22, 2024

Rusk was also in charge as Southampton went down fighting against Liverpool in the EFL Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.

"They're an honest group, they're focussed as professionals and focussed on the job at hand, they gave everything in these two games, they can take confidence into whatever comes next," Rusk said. 

Former Roma manager Juric is expected to be in the dugout as they host West Ham on Boxing Day after the Croatian only had a watching brief in London as he awaited his work permit. 

"Ultimately, the role of an interim head coach is less about your vision of football and more about the immediacy of what the club and team needs. I've drawn on my experiences and worked as hard as I can to help the players over the two games," Rusk said of his two-match spell. 

"My task was to take responsibility for the two games, focus on that and nothing else. I had a brief chat with Ivan, I'm sure over the coming weeks his identity and ideas will become clear."

Meanwhile, Marco Silva expressed his frustration after his Fulham side failed to score for the first time in 16 league matches and missed the chance to go level on points with reigning champions Manchester City with a win. 

"We should have won the game definitely," Silva said. 

"We tried everything from the start, it's impossible to finish a game with more attacking players in our team. Our attacking line was never really a threat to them."

Fulham registered 16 shots with five of them on target, but failed to find a way past the Southampton defence despite generating an expected goals (xG) total of 1.04.

They find themselves in ninth place - three points behind fifth-placed Bournemouth and six behind Nottingham Forest in fourth. 

"We had two or three clear chances, but we should have created more. We have to be more incisive, more clinical. It's a missed opportunity for us definitely, that was a game we win if we take better decisions," Silva added. 

Our latest #PL debutant.

Congratulations, @GodoMartial . pic.twitter.com/3ShetcdO1v

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) December 22, 2024