Bilal El Khannouss excellent, Oliver Skipp rubbish: Leicester ratings vs Southampton
Leicester City overcame fellow relegated side Southampton to claim an overdue 2-0 victory at the King Power Stadium in the Premier League.
The Foxes went into the game looking to end a run of nine straight league home games without a goal or a win.
In a first half that saw a long interruption for a head injury to referee David Webb, they did end that scoring drought thanks to strikes from Jamie Vardy and Jordan Ayew to take a 2-0 lead in at the break.
With the second half ending goalless, that was enough to hand a welcome win to Ruud van Nistelrooy and his side as they look ahead to a return to the Championship next season.
| Leicester last five games | Result |
| Newcastle (H) | Lost 3-0 |
| Brighton (A) | Drew 2-2 |
| Liverpool (H) | Lost 1-0 |
| Wolves (A) | Lost 3-0 |
| Southampton (H) | Won 2-0 |
Here is how Football Insider rated the performances of the Leicester City squad in that clash with Southampton on Saturday (3 May).
Leicester City defence get their clean sheet
Jakub Stolarczyk – 6
With Mads Hermansen seeing his Leicester season ended early by injury, Stolarczyk stepped in between the posts, though he didn’t have a lot to do in this match.
James Justin – 7
A steady enough performance on the right-hand side of defence from Justin, who did his job well enough.
Conor Coady – 6
A fairly steady performance at centre-back from Coady, with Southampton enjoying little in terms of long spells of possession.
Wout Faes – 5
Produced a dangerous pass across the face of his own goal early on that he got away with, otherwise largely untroubled.
Van Nistelrooy gets rare victory over relegated rivals
Luke Thomas – 7
Looked to get forward and didn’t have a great deal to worry about from a defensive perspective at the other end.
Wilfred Ndidi – 7
A strong performance in the centre of midfield from Ndidi to help mop things up in the key areas.
Oliver Skipp (off for Golding, ’90+4) – 3
A poor day. Struggled to influence things, picked up a clear yellow card and then continued to make some risky challenges.
Jamie Vardy back in the goals
Kasey McAteer (off for Evans, ’84) – 5
Got into some decent positions but the winger’s final ball was sadly lacking, otherwise the scoreline could have been different.
Jordan Ayew (off for Monga, ’70) – 7
After his initial free kick went straight into the wall he produced a brilliant strike on the follow-up to make it 2-0. Wasn’t distracted by an accidental clash with the referee before doubling the lead.
Bilal El Khannouss (off for Soumare, ’84) – 8 – Player of the Match
El Khannouss has been among the better Leicester performers this season and that was again the case here. A bright performance including a good assist for Vardy, caused plenty of trouble for Southampton.
Jamie Vardy (off for Daka, ’84) – 7
Vardy missed a penalty at Wolves last time out but made no mistake with an excellent finish to open the scoring here. A more positive step on his Leicester farewell tour.
Substitutes
Jeremy Monga (on for Ayew, ’70) – 7
Another exciting and eye-catching outing for the 15-year-old.
Boubakary Soumare (on for El Khannouss) – 6
Introduced to see things out late on.
Patson Daka (on for Vardy, ’85) – 4
Had a couple of sights of goal after coming on but couldn’t take them.
Jake Evans (on for McAteer, ’84) – 6
A memorable moment for the 16-year-old as he made his home debut.
Michael Golding (on for Skipp, ’90+4) – 5
Got a run out for the final few seconds.