Walcott urged to chill out
Perez and Vardy lead Foxes rampage
penalty area pick a shot past Gunn. Two minutes later, it was Perez’s turn as Saints’ defence was again ripped to shreds.
Manager Ralph Hassenhutl had initially gone with a back-five to try to avoid the heavy defeat which Saints knew would plunge them into the bottom three.
But with that plan out of the window, Leicester continued to pick perfect spray-trailing passes.
It was not until six minutes before the break that the next goal arrived however, with Chilwell’s deep cross converted by Perez. Vardy added a fifth and it still was not half-time.
For as much of a defence as the Southampton players were putting up, they may as well have joined Bertrand to left) (top for an early bath. Perez completed his hat-trick in the 57th minute before Vardy grabbed his second – and a record seventh for Leicester away in the league – with a simple header.
James Maddison made it 8-0, curling in a 20-yard free-kick in the 84th minute.
Jan Bednarek then fouled Vardy in the box and he completed his hat-trick from the spot with the last kick of the game to make history for the Foxes.
MARCO SILVA has told Theo Walcott not to put so much pressure on himself.
The former Arsenal striker came in from the wilderness to inspire Everton’s win over West Ham last Saturday.
That lifted them out of the bottom three and eased pressure on the manager.
Silva says he has always believed in Walcott despite condemning him to a long spell on the sidelines but wants him to relax and have self-belief.
Silva said: “What he needs to be more consistent in, is the work and the belief.
“He has to believe in himself. Before his team-mates, before my staff, before me, Theo has to believe in himself.
“He has a special profile, the one thing in football that you cannot find so early – that pace and the speed. When Theo is in a good day, it is really difficult to stop him.
“In some moments, he has to stop a little bit to breathe and make the right decisions.”
There has always been so much expectation on Walcott, now 30, since he burst onto the scene as a big-money teenager at Arsenal and earned a shock call-up to England’s 2006 World Cup squad as a 17-year-old.
Silva added: “He is a player with quality and a fantastic boy.
“Sometimes he puts big pressure on himself to be the decisive player.
“So it is up to us to keep giving the right feedback to him and for him to perform at his level.
“In some moments, our players and our teams have to know his profile.
“We have to take the best from him. Playing in a certain way, we can get very good things from Theo Walcott.
“He hasn’t lost confidence. At the beginning of the season he wasn’t playing, sometimes not even in the squad, and he was not happy with the situation. But still he was the big example to everyone.
Fighting, wanting the best for the team, not for himself. He did a fantastic answer, a very good