Two relegated Premier League teams merely playing for pride in the latter stages of the season square off at the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Leicester City play host to Southampton.
The Saints are seeking revenge against the Foxes as they suffered a 3-2 defeat in the reverse fixture at St Mary’s back in October when Jordan Ayew scored a dramatic 98th-minute winner.
Match preview
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Leicester’s inevitable demotion was sealed at the hands of Premier League champions Liverpool a fortnight ago and they have since suffered their 24th defeat of the campaign, going down 3-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend.
Soon-to-be-departing club legend Jamie Vardy missed a second-half penalty as the Foxes failed to make the net ripple once again in a performance that simply “wasn’t good enough” in the eyes of head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose long-term future at the club remains uncertain.
Leicester have now conceded a total of 49 goals in 21 PL matches under Van Nistelrooy and if they concede at least one more on Saturday, it will be the joint-second fastest a team has conceded 50 goals under the same manager in the division’s history (level with George Burley at Ipswich Town), beaten only by Danny Wilson at Barnsley (19 games).
The Foxes, who have also had fewer shots (299), fewer shots on target (98) and a lower xG tally (29.2) than any other team in the Premier League this season, sit 19th in the table with 18 points, seven points ahead of basement club Southampton and three points behind Ipswich in 18th.
Leicester return to the King Power this weekend where they have lost each of their last nine PL home games by an aggregate score of 22-0; the only team in the top four tiers of English football who has fail to score in 10 consecutive home matches are Wolves between December 1984 and April 1985.
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Southampton were on course to claim a morale-boosting win last weekend when they were leading 1-0 at home to Fulham, but the Saints were undone by a late fightback from the visitors and a 92nd-minute winner from Ryan Sessegnon ultimately condemned them to their 27th Premier League loss of the campaign.
The South Coast club have now dropped more points from winning positions than any other team in the Premier League this season (28), while their 80 goals conceded is their most in a single league campaign since 1971-72 (also 80), while they last shipped more goals back in 1967-68 (83).
Although Southampton have not won any of their four matches under the tutelage of interim boss Simon Rusk so far this season (D2 L2), the Saints are currently averaging more points per game under the 43-year-old this term (0.5) than they did under former managers Russell Martin (0.31) and Ivan Juric (0.29).
Southampton, who have faced more shots (605), more shots on target (234) and have a higher xG against tally (78.8) than any other side in the Premier League this season, are seeking to avoid losing four consecutive league meetings against Leicester for the first time.
However, defeat on Saturday would confirm their place at the foot of the Premier League this term. It would represent the third time they have finished rock bottom (also 2004-05 and 2022-23) – the joint-most of any team in the division along with Sunderland (2002-03, 2005-06 and 2016-17).
Team News
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Leicester trio Facundo Buonanotte (concussion), Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Ricardo Pereira (both muscle) were all forced off in the defeat to Wolves; the former two will join Abdul Fatawu (knee) and Stephy Mavididi (muscle) in the treatment room, while Pereira will be assessed ahead of kickoff.
Van Nistelrooy has confirmed that goalkeeper Mads Hermansen will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a groin problem, so Jakub Stolarczyk is set to take his place between the sticks.
James Justin is expected to replace Pereira at right-back and could be joined in the back four by Wout Faes, Conor Coady and Luke Thomas, while Wilfred Ndidi and Boubakary Soumare are the most likely duo to link arms in centre-midfield.
In the absence of Buonanotte, 15-year-old starlet Jeremy Monga will be pushing to make his first senior start, but Kasey McAteer and Jordan Ayew may be preferred to start out wide as Bilal El Khannouss operates as a number 10 behind Vardy up front.
As for Southampton, Albert Gronbaek (Achilles) and Charlie Taylor (hip) are both ruled out, but Paul Onuachu has returned to training and is available for selection after missing the defeat to Fulham with an ankle injury.
Rusk has a decision to make over whether to stick with Ross Stewart up front or recall either Onuachu or Cameron Archer, while he will also weigh up whether to start in-demand attacker Tyler Dibling, who has begun as a substitute in each of the last three games.
Mateus Fernandes and Kamaldeen Sulemana may continue in the final third, though, while the rest of Rusk’s first XI could remain intact, with Flynn Downes and Lesley Ugochukwu likely to get the nod to start in centre-midfield, leaving William Smallbone and Joe Aribo to begin as substitutes once again.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Stolarczyk; Justin, Coady, Faes, Thomas; Ndidi, Soumare; McAteer, El Khannouss, Ayew; Vardy
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Walker-Peters, Downes, Ugochukwu, Manning; Fernandes, Sulemana; Stewart
We say: Leicester City 1-2 Southampton
Both teams are unsurprisingly down in the dumps and are keen to restore a sense of pride in their remaining fixtures. Leicester can also complete the Premier League double over Southampton for the first time since 1999-00 if they collect maximum points this weekend.
However, it is difficult to ignore the Foxes’ miserable home form, while there have been signs of improvement – albeit very minor ones – in the last couple of games from the Saints, who we are backing to come out on top and subsequently avoid equalling Derby County’s record-low points tally (11).
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