Coming into the contest on the back of a dominant 3-0 win over Crystal Palace last time out, the hosts started confidently, with plenty of possession inside the Southampton half.
Despite a largely uneventful opening half hour, both sides came close to breaking the deadlock, as Willian fired a half-volley narrowly wide of the target while Ché Adams saw a close-range effort thwarted by Bernd Leno.
With half-time approaching, Fulham looked to stamp their authority on proceedings, and duly took the lead, albeit in fortuitous fashion. A clever lofted corner from Willian found Andreas Pereira on the edge of the box, and the Brazilian struck a powerful effort towards goal, which deflected off James Ward-Prowse and beyond the helpless Gavin Bazunu.
The Saints emerged after the restart eager to find a swift response and deservedly levelled the scores when Ward-Prowse, desperate to atone for his unfortunate own-goal, fired a trademark free-kick into the top corner.
Buoyed by the equaliser, Southampton continued to commit numbers forward in pursuit of a second goal, but a lack of cutting edge in the final third provided plenty of frustration for the travelling support.
With 10 minutes remaining and the scoreline delicately poised, Fulham looked the more likely to snatch a late winner, and Palhinha stepped up to head home at the back post from Kenny Tete's delivery to earn all three points for the Cottagers.
Another miserable afternoon threatened to go from bad to worse for the visitors when they conceded a penalty deep into stoppage time, but the usually reliable Aleksandar Mitrović failed to convert from 12 yards. Alas, the deficit remained at one, leaving the Saints without a victory in six league matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: João Palhinha (Fulham)
