LONDON (AP) — Claudio Ranieri made a successful return to the English Premier League by guiding new club Fulham to a 3-2 win over Southampton in his first game in charge on Saturday.
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice for Fulham and Andre Schurrle added the team's other goal in only its second win of the season since returning to the top flight.
Ranieri won the Premier League with Leicester in 2016 at preseason odds of 5,000-1 but has played down the prospect of a miracle at Fulham, which was bottom of the standings when he took over.
Not anymore, with Fulham climbing above Huddersfield with this win.
The pressure switches to fourth-to-last Southampton, which has not won since Sept. 1 against Crystal Palace and manager Mark Hughes has just three wins in 21 league games since his appointment in March.
Stuart Armstrong netted a double, his first goals for Southampton.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
