Jamie Vardy ended Leicester’s long wait for a home goal in the Premier League as they defeated Southampton 2-0 in a clash between two already relegated teams. Vardy’s opener was the 38-year-old’s 199th goal in a Leicester shirt and set his side on their way to a first win since January. Jordan Ayew added a second before half-time to leave Southampton still needing one more point to avoid a share of the competition’s lowest-ever total – Derby’s 11 from 2007-08.
“The performance provided the three points,” said Ruud Van Nistelrooy, the Leicester manager. “The first goal was finished in style and it gave us that lead that we needed and the first goal at home in a long, long time. We were ready to break that cycle.”
Taylor Harwood-Bellis had a decent chance to head Southampton into a sixth-minute lead, but his effort from Mateus Fernandes’s corner was comfortably saved by the Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk.
However, there could not have been a more popular opening goalscorer as Leicester finally found the net at home in the league for the first time since Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s equaliser against Brighton on 8 December 2024. In the 16th minute, Luke Thomas put Bilal El Khannouss in behind down the left and his low ball into the box was smashed high into the net by Vardy who moved within one goal of his Leicester double-century.
The Southampton interim manager, Simon Rusk, said: “The first goal just seemed to knock the confidence out of the team. Maybe that’s a result of the season as a whole in that it seemed to be a step too far psychologically perhaps. We can try to affect confidence levels as much as we can, but the reality is we’re working together as a group that’s won two games all season.”
There was then a bizarre incident when the referee, David Webb, took an accidental blow to the head from Ayew, who only had eyes on play, and required treatment – after Vardy had blown his whistle to stop the match. Webb could not continue, so the fourth official, Sam Barrott, took charge for the remainder of the contest.
Leicester were quickest to find their feet again after the 12-minute delay and doubled their lead after 44 minutes when Ayew hit a powerful drive into the bottom corner from outside the box after the Ghanaian had struck a free-kick into the wall. The lively El Khannouss almost scored a third for the hosts in first-half stoppage time when his attempted cross looped on to the top of the bar.
Southampton’s performance could only improve after the break and they came close to pulling a goal back when Stolarczyk did well to keep out Paul Onuachu’s header from Kamaldeen Sulemana’s cross.
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It was only a brief flurry from the visitors Leicester almost adding to their lead when Wilfred Ndidi’s shot from El Khannouss’s corner was deflected wide. Vardy almost reached his 200-goal milestone when his free-kick was beaten away by the Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
El Khannouss ignored the chance to play in Vardy as he rolled a shot wide after breaking into the Southampton half with seven minutes left as the hosts coasted to a rare victory.
Source: theguardian.com
