Leicester City 4-1 Southampton: Southampton firmly beaten at Leicester

Southampton closed the 2021/22 campaign with whimper, suffering a 4-1 defeat at Leicester City on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday.

Having collected just five points during an abysmal run that began on March 5, the Saints plummeted from ninth in the standings to a 15th place finish. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team conceded 30 goals and scoring just nine in that stretch.

Southampton’s lone victory came in a shock 1-0 result against Arsenal that saw Fraser Forster make six incredible saves, as the Gunners fired 23 shots in total whilst they also picked up defeats to relegated Watford and Burnely.

Saints can take away a hollow victory of having maintained their position in the division—thanks in part to Leeds and Burnely—but now face an important first summer under the new ownership of Dragan Solak and his Sport Republic group.

The match, meanwhile, played out in standard Southampton fashion with neither team producing a first-half shot on target, but Leicester managed to create a pair of chances that they failed to convert on.

Leicester produced the breakthrough four minutes after the restart when Lyanco failed to deal with Kasper Schmeichel’s long ball and Jamie Vardy reacted first, before James Maddison tucked in the rebound to make it 1-0.

Lyanco, who struggled all afternoon, was made to pay again as Vardy doubled Leicester’s advantage in the 74th minute, turning the defender inside out before smashing a shot into the near post.

James Ward-Prowse pulled one back for Saints, converting from the spot for his personal best 11th goal of the season, but second-half substitute dashed any hopes of a comeback after he scored twice to confirm all three points for the hosts.

The result meant Leicester ended the year on a four-match unbeaten run, but narrowly missed out on a return trip to the Europa Conference League, finishing in eighth and four points behind West Ham.

Leicester City (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel; Justin, Evans, Fofana, Castagne (Ricardo 70); Tielemans, Mendy; Barnes (Lookman 77), Dewsbury-Hall (Perez 62), Maddison (Amartey 82); Vardy

Unused subs: Ward (GK), Daka, Perez, Albrighton, Soyuncu, Iheanacho

Goals: Maddison (49), Vardy (74), Perez (81, 90+6)

Bookings: None

Southampton (4-3-3): McCarthy; Salisu, Lyanco, Stephens, Walker-Peters; Elyounoussi (Djenepo 72), Romeu, Ward-Prowse; S. Armstrong, A. Armstrong (Adams 62); Redmond (Long 83)

Unused subs: Caballero (GK), Diallo, Valery, Bednarek, Walcott, Smallbone

Goals: Ward-Prowse (79 PEN)

Bookings: Romeu (70)

Attendance: 30,003

Referee: Jonathan Moss