Leicester held by 10-man Southampton, Rodgers says his team felt the impact of a tight schedule

The draw left Leicester with 63 points from 34 games, eight points above fifth-placed West Ham United which plays on Monday.

Published : May 01, 2021 09:04 IST

A gritty Southampton side had taken a surprise lead via a James Ward-Prowse penalty but a 68th-minute Jonny Evans header helped Leicester salvage a point.
A gritty Southampton side had taken a surprise lead via a James Ward-Prowse penalty but a 68th-minute Jonny Evans header helped Leicester salvage a point.
lightbox-info

A gritty Southampton side had taken a surprise lead via a James Ward-Prowse penalty but a 68th-minute Jonny Evans header helped Leicester salvage a point.

Third-placed Leicester City suffered a frustrating night on the south coast as it was held to a 1-1 draw in the Premier League by a Southampton side which played almost the entire match with 10 men on Friday.

In the end Leicester needed a 68th-minute Jonny Evans header to salvage a point after a gritty Southampton side had taken a surprise lead via a James Ward-Prowse penalty.

Southampton had begun the game in lively fashion but it suffered a blow after 10 minutes when Jannik Vestergaard was harshly shown a red card for a last-ditch tackle on Jamie Vardy.

The draw left Leicester with 63 points from 34 games, eight points above fifth-placed West Ham United who play on Monday.

READ:

Southampton moved up a place to 14th and with a 10-point gap between itself and third-from-bottom Fulham it looks to be safe from the prospect of relegation.

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers said fatigue amid a tight fixture schedule could have played a part in their inability to push for victory over 10-man Southampton

"A little frustrating, I don't think we did enough to win the game," Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said.

"A great opportunity against 10 men and we're normally very good at that. Give credit to Southampton, they defended deep and compact but we're disappointed.

"But it's another point towards where we want to go. We've now got four games to go. We're in a brilliant position."

READ: Liverpool's Klopp says teams will find it harder to stop Man City

"We're obviously disappointed with the result considering the circumstances of the game," Rodgers, whose side had thrashed 10-man Southampton 9-0 in the corresponding fixture last season, told reporters.

"The guys have given everything. It was the fourth game in 13 days so maybe that had something to do with it but no excuse, we have to give credit to Southampton, they made it incredibly difficult. We hope the point proves important for us."

Despite its numerical advantage, Leicester lacked fluency and it had to wait 34 minutes to get a shot on target as Kelechi Iheanacho's long-range effort was easily saved.

Iheanacho has not been able to put a foot wrong of late but he conceded the penalty which threatened to put a spoke in the works of Leicester's top-four bid.

READ:

Trying to block Stuart Armstrong's shot, his arm was raised and Jones pointed to the spot. Ward-Prowse tucked away the penalty low to Kasper Schmeichel's right.

Leicester suddenly found more intensity with James Maddison having a succession of shots at goal and substitute Ayoze Perez forcing a fine save from Alex McCarthy.

Eventually the pressure told and Iheanacho made amends with a superb cross into the box that Evans glanced into the net.

Southampton resisted late pressure and was worthy of the point it edges them closer to safety.

"One point was very important today and big for everybody this season," Hasenhuttl said.

"There's so much football to be played and so much to happen," Leicester City midfielder, James Maddison told Sky Sports. "We just have to win and see where we are after 38 matches."

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment