3 May 2025
Leicester 2 Southampton 0
Two relegated teams met at the King Power Stadium as The Foxes welcomed Southampton to town. This was a Premier League match all but in name, as both sides have been way out of their depth in the campaign. Now they were both on a ‘farewell tour’ as they enjoyed having those badges on the sleeves of their tops for just four more games.
Fans had berated both of these sides on social media, labelling this match as ‘El Rubbisho’ and worse. It is a wonder whether some of their own fans were jumping on this bandwagon. There were so many empty seats in the ground, you wondered whether there was a free Kasabian concert in the city at the same time as this match.
To its credit, the match was living up to the billing. There were fewer chances than a second-hand Monopoly board you had picked up at a car boot sale in a hungover state on a Sunday morning. Had the club even offered free entry to this game, it would not be a given that the stadium would be any fuller than it was for this bottom of the table clash.
The Foxes came forward as the ball was played into El-Khannouss down the left flank. He made inroads towards the penalty area and got to the byline before cutting the ball back to Vardy. The veteran striker hit it first-time with real venom to give the hosts the lead. It was their first goal in front of their own fans since December.
After a surprising goal, the comedy then ensued. Ayew was running towards the ball when he seemed to catch the referee with a glancing blow of the shoulder. The official went down like he had just heard that Howard Webb had doubled their sick pay and lay in a heap on the floor. With Southampton on the attack, Vardy came over to him and blew the official’s whistle to stop play.
The referee was unable to continue and had to be substituted. Nobody knows whether the contact was in fact enough to warrant an injury or the official was just too embarrassed with his reaction to be able to continue in front of this half-full stadium. Either way, there was now a new man running the show in the middle.
His first job was to award The Foxes a free-kick in a dangerous position as Fernandes bundled over El-Khannouss. It all came from The Saints trying to play out from the back. Ayew stepped up to take it but drilled his effort into the wall. As it rebounded straight back to him, the forward struck a superb half-volley into the bottom corner to double the hosts’ lead.
After the interval, the game continued to look like a pre-season friendly, with neither side seemingly giving it their all. El-Khannouss was the only player on the pitch who actually looked as though he could make something happen. He weaved his way through some lacklustre defending from the visitors, before trying to bend one in the far corner, narrowly shaving the top of the bar.
Leicester were looking the more attacking team as Harwood-Bellis upended El-Khannouss just outside the box. Vardy stepped up to take the free-kick, looking to score his 200th goal in a Foxes’ top. As he got his effort up and over the wall, Ramsdale got down well to beat it away. It was a fairly routine save for the former Arsenal stopper.
While nobody can argue that either of these teams were out of their depth in the top-flight, you started to wonder if either of them could end up going the way of Luton Town. In all fairness, they are going to have to spend some money to hold their own in the Championship. With Vardy leaving the club in the summer, The Foxes are going to be devoid of strikers, that is for sure.
El-Khannouss should have added a third as he drove through the middle and the Southampton defence parted like the Red Sea. As he got into the box, he looked to pull the trigger but dragged his effort well wide of the target. It would have been fitting for him to score as he was, by far, the best player on the pitch.
The Foxes held on for the three points in this drab match. Ruud van Nistelrooy seemed to take some solace in his side getting back to winning ways, but this felt like an empty victory. They have beaten possibly the worst team to grace the Premier League and that takes some doing if you just turn you mind back to Burnley and Sheff Utd last season.
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