Southampton 1-1 Leicester City: Foxes player ratings

Leicester City were held by a 10 man Southampton side, which still leaves the race for top four very much open.

The start of the game was cagey, but then the face of it changed completely as Jannik Vestergaard’s bad touch gave Jamie Vardy a sniff, which in the referee’s eye was a red card offence for denying a goal scoring opportunity. That decision came despite the Saints defender winning the ball.

The next 50 minutes were a tale of pot shots from the Foxes and the home side defending resolutely. However, against all the odds Southampton were given a golden opportunity to take the lead as a long-range effort hit Kelechi Iheanacho’s arm in the area, an opportunity that James Ward-Prowse took.

Once again, falling behind seemingly sparked some urgency amongst the Leicester City players, and it didn’t take long for the equaliser to come. A short corner eventually fell to Iheanacho, who whipped in a delightful ball that was greeted by a faint Jonny Evans header.

Leicester huffed and puffed, and Jamie Vardy fluffed a massive chance for a big win, and that was the last chance of the game. With 80 minutes against 10 men, it is yet another set back that is agonising for Foxes fans as they just want the job to be finished. The play was too slow and the key moments went against them.

Here are the players ratings:

Kasper Schmeichel– 5

Nearly got a hand on the penalty, apart from that he could have gone home

Wesley Fofana– 5

Was aggressive and kept the small number of Southampton attacks quiet, but unfortunately had to make way for Perez as Rodgers needs to protect him due to his fasting commitments.

Jonny Evans– 6

Genuinely had nothing to do, always found the right pass. Good positioning for the equaliser and a great header as well.

Caglar Soyuncu– 5

The same, not really needed

Timothy Castagne– 4

He was always available but his delivery was really poor, meaning that the game was so static. Also, I feel like he should have scored at the end.

Youri Tielemans– 4

Sloppy overall I thought, his touch was poor which stopped some attacks from developing.

Wilfred Ndidi– 5

Not really needed to be honest, he wasn’t particularly bad, but again his passing ability, or lack thereof, really hinders the team.

Luke Thomas– 4

Same as Castagne, was always available but his end product was dismal.

James Maddison– 3

Needs to be better, looks neat and tidy sometimes, but he was so wasteful, and that period where he was obsessed with trying to score a screamer was incredibly annoying. So frustrating.

Jamie Vardy– 4

Okay in the first half. Even though it wasn’t a red card, he was still alert to force the matter. Ironically the red card hindered him as the Saints just sat back and denied the space, but he always made himself available. However, he has to score that opportunity! It was so bad from him.

Kelechi Iheanacho– 6

Quiet. The penalty was unfortunate, but made up for it with a neat little cross for the equaliser

Substitutes:

Ayoze Perez, Marc Albrighton– 4

Both were quiet.