Leicester City spurned the opportunity to further strengthen their position in the league table after a draw against ten-man Southampton. The Saints had defender Jannik Vestergaard sent off in the tenth minute of the match but managed to keep their opponents at bay.
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City were a win away from a top-four finish last season. However, the Foxes choked when it mattered most and slipped out of the Champions League spots with just two games to go in the season. Their loss on the final day of the previous campaign against Manchester United pushed them down to fifth and into the Europa League instead.
Rodgers will hope that a repeat of the situation does not happen this time around. With four games to go, Leicester City are five points clear of fourth-placed Chelsea. Meanwhile, the gap between them and West Ham United – who are fifth – is eight points. It could’ve been more had they not drawn against a ten-man Southampton on Friday night.
Leicester were given a massive boost just ten minutes into their league match against Southampton. The Saints lost Jannik Vestergaard to a red card after the Danish defender brought down Jamie Vardy on the edge of the box. As he had denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity to his opponent, the referee was left with no option but to send him off.
There was to be no 9-0 this time around, despite Leicester’s considerable advantage. The Foxes weren’t able to break the opponents down for much of the match, despite the likes of Kelechi Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy in scintillating form.
The breakthrough did arrive in the 61st minute, but it was Southampton who took the lead. The Saints were awarded a penalty when Iheanacho instinctively handled the ball inside the penalty box. The Nigerian forward had his arm in an unnatural position as a set-piece came in. James Ward-Prowse took the spot-kick and sent his side a goal up.
However, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team was unable to hold onto their lead for long. Iheanacho made amends by providing a pin-point cross for Jonny Evans to head in and level the match. Leicester had chances to win the game but were denied the go-ahead goal by Alex McCarthy making some fantastic saves.
