EVANS HEADER RESCUES VITAL POINT AS 10-MAN SAINTS GIVE HIGH-FLYING FOXES A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY
City waste golden opportunity after Saints suffer early red
KELECHI IHEANACHO went from villain to hero but could not stop the Foxes missing a chance to consolidate their grip on a top-four spot.
Iheanacho’s dozy handball gifted 10-man Southampton a penalty which skipper James Ward-Prowse scored to give the home side a shock lead.
But the red-hot Leicester forward, who has 14 goals in his past 15 games, turned provider to create an equaliser for Jonny Evans.
That was a sickener for Saints, who played well despite having Jannik Vestergaard controversially sent off in the 10th minute.
But it was a victory Leicester needed to put the pressure on the chasing pack in the race for the Champions League and this will go down as a missed opportunity.
There was added spice on it as painful memories of Leicester dumping them out of the FA Cup in a heartbreaking semi-final loss were still fresh in Southampton minds.
But you could not find many around St Mary’s predicting a home win before kick-off with star man Danny Ings sitting out after a thigh injury.
The home side started well but then shot themselves in the foot when Vestergaard got himself sent off for a nasty-looking foul on Vardy. It was Vestergaard’s poor control which caused it – but replays showed he got the ball before catching the Foxes striker on the ankle with his followthrough. Referee Robert Jones decided it was a dangerous tackle and as the last man he had little option but to send the defender off.
Still, it took the Foxes 33 minutes to manage a shot on target, and by half-time a well-saved effort by Youri Tielemans was all they had to show.
Brendan Rodgers, right, finally decided he no longer needed three centre-backs and sent on Ayoze Perez for Wesley Fofana for the second half.
But Saints looked comfortable, defending well, snapping into tackles and putting a shift in. You could see Leicester’s frustration growing, but with Nathan Redmond looking increasingly isolated up front for Saints, the pressure was relentless. When Timothy Castagne got the byline to get his cross in, Alex McCarthey snuffed out the danger. And then, from a free-kick foolishly given away by Castagne at the other end, Saints suddenly won a penalty. Iheanacho was asking for trouble raising his arms to block Stuart Armstrong’s shot and when the ball struck his arm there could only be one outcome. Ward-Prowse despatched it right into the bottom corner – but Evans equalised from a brilliant Iheanacho cross.
SAINTS (5-3-2): McCarthy 6; Walker-Peters 7, Stephens 7, Vestergaard 4, Bednarek 6, Tella 5 (Salisu 15, 6); Armstrong 7, Ward-Prowse 8, Minamino 6 (Diallo 76); Adams 7 (N’Lundulu 90), Redmond 7. Sent off: Vestergaard 10. Goal: Ward-Prowse 61.
LEICESTER (3-4-1-2): Schmeichel 6; Fofana 7 (Perez 46, 6), Evans 7, Soyuncu 5; Castagne 5, Ndidi 6, Tielemans 7, Thomas 6; (Albrighton 69); Maddison 6; Iheanacho 6, Vardy 6. Goal: Evans 68.