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Southampton vs Leicester City: Premier League – Where the game will be won and lost

By Edward Waugh

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 12: James Ward-Prowse of Southampton scores his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Southampton FC at The King Power Stadium on January 12, 2019 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 12: James Ward-Prowse of Southampton scores his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Southampton FC at The King Power Stadium on January 12, 2019 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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LEICESTER, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 27: Nathan Redmond of Southampton takes on Caglar Soyuncu of Leicester City during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Leicester City and Southampton at The King Power Stadium on October 30, 2018 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 27: Nathan Redmond of Southampton takes on Caglar Soyuncu of Leicester City during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Leicester City and Southampton at The King Power Stadium on October 30, 2018 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

Counter Attacks

Quite the similar theme with threats pointed out in Southampton’s previous fixture against Wolves; Hasenhuttl’s men are extremely vulnerable when hit with a counter-attack due to the pace of the centre-half’s and covering midfielders in Oriol Romeu and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Whilst Leicester City have the ability to hit teams effectively with the counter-attack, exploiting their main striker’s turn of pace in Jamie Vardy, means that Southampton’s backline will need to drop off for effectively the whole game to help nullify this threat.

The former England international sits 4th in the Premier League goals scored standings this campaign with six goals, and therefore defenders such as Jan Bednarek and Jannik Vestergaard will need to sit deep to avoid being exploited due to their lack of ability to cover ground in behind quickly.

Setting up with the 5-2-3 or 5-3-2 might be the best system to use to help nullify this threat, since mentioned that Southampton are defensively delicate at home so far this campaign; the extra centre-half will help to prevent Vardy exploiting space in behind, but also provide extra cover if the mentioned Vestergaard or Bednarek are caught out of position.