Leicester Away Lost 2 – 0
Southampton took the field at Leicester wearing their lemon shirts for no obvious reason, other than maybe to protect the players from chants about not being fit to wear the (striped) shirts. It didn’t work. Despite a minimal contribution from Stewart up front, the game was going along nicely enough for 16 minutes, but then the Foxes broke strongly down their left and El Khannous crossed for unmarked Vardy to score with a first-time finish – a good goal (Leicester’s first at home in 2025!), but surely there should have been some better central defending? Then referee Webb managed to run into Ayew and concussed himself, causing a delay of over ten minutes, presumably for his replacement to get wired up to Stockley Park. When Stephens gave the ball away, Fernandes fouled unnecessarily and Ayew, as is his wont when winning, took an age to think about a free kick that he promptly sent straight at the wall before lashing in the rebound – maybe that was his plan all along? Cue those shirt chants, as well as plenty of stick for Stephens who was replaced by Dibling at half time while Onuachu came on for Stewart. I think Tall Paul ought to make more of his physique, but he does get involved more than Stewart and his header forced Stolarczyk into his only meaningful save – quite a good one, which set up a rebound put in by Fernandes who was clearly offside. That was more or less it for Fernandes as he was involved in a set of 57th minute substitutions. It seemed odd to the most sanguine of supporters and prompted a revenge chorus of the Matty Fernandes song from those who were a bit more angry. And that song continued right until the end, only ebbing away a bit for pantomime boos when Vardy left the stage. Simon Rusk explained that the player wasn’t 100% fit, begging the question of what percentage of Fernandes is better than 100% of (in this case) Smallbone. Rusk also claimed that his man had flu symptoms, but that one makes you wonder why he didn’t have a warm shower and quarantine on the coach, instead of sitting on the bench with his mates for half an hour on a cold afternoon. Leicester only threatened on the break as Saints had plenty of second period ball, but another dismal display both tactically and amongst the playing staff.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates for you to choose from:
4. Flynn Downes, helping out possession stats.
18. Mateus Fernandes, for those who enjoyed the song.
26. Lesley Ugochukwu. Also part of a decent defensive midfield… so he was replaced by the hapless Archer.
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