Leicester City vs Southampton: Opposing fan’s view from the Foxes

Coming off a massive 1-0 victory over Liverpool earlier in the month, Southampton will travel to King Power Stadium this Saturday to face 4th-placed Leicester City.

The match looks to be an enticing contest, as Saints will look to draw level in league play with the Foxes if they’re able to take all three points from the contest.

Saints will likely be without leading man Danny Ings after a positive COVID test despite being cleared to return to training on Friday, with Leicester seeing Jamie Vardy and James Maddison both make returns to the pitch.

The Foxes have won two and drawn two in their last five league matches, but have been riding high thus far on the season and currently sit fourth in the league table. Lifelong Leicester City fan Jake Ward expressed with us at Saints Marching his delight with the side’s efforts on the campaign:

"“I am delighted with how the season has gone so far. Although we haven’t been as consistent as we were in the first half of last season, we are still right up there in the top four, even with all the injuries we have had. With the compressed schedule and limited pre-season, every team has faced similar problems, but I think we have dealt with them very well.”"

While the side have had their fair share of injuries on the season, seeing Jamie Vardy and James Maddison return will be a massive boost for the opposing side for the rest of the campaign, and Jake expressed his hesitation on being overly optimistic on the rest of the season due to injury issues:

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"“I hesitate to make a solid prediction — even in the season where we won the league, I spent the fall hoping we wouldn’t get relegated, and the spring hoping we would just get top four. I would like to at least equal last season (5th), and given the way we lost out on top four at the very end, it would obviously be great to finish in the top four. Still, injuries are going to play a big role in the next few months for all teams, and while we have a few key players coming back now, just a couple of players out could cause us problems, especially as we continue in the Europa League and the FA Cup as well.”"

The two sides split results last season, with Leicesters infamous 9-0 victory in October followed by Saints’ 2-1 victory in January, which was the last match of a five-unbeaten run Saints had strung together in league play. When asked how this season’s matchups between the two sides should compare to last year’s, Jake describes how much more even a match this weekends clash should be:

"“Our two matches last season were a tale of two halves of the season — for both teams. When we played the first time, we were riding high and Southampton were struggling; when we played the second time, that had completely reversed. This time, we’re coming in with relatively similar form, so it should be an interesting game.”"

When asked which player could make the true difference in the match for the Foxes and one Saints fans should look out for, Jake had high hopes for some of his side’s players:

"“There are a lot of players I could choose from, but I am hoping James Maddison will play a key role in this game. He had a relatively slow start to the season, but in recent games has looked back to his best. Any time he lets the ball run across his body and turns into the opposition final third, I expect something to happen. I’m also hoping to see Çağlar Söyüncü make an appearance, if not start the game — he’s been out for a while, but has been subbed on in the last couple of games, and will definitely help us tighten things up at the back.”"

An in-form James Maddison could surely provide some trouble for Ralph’s squad, but Saints fans will be hoping their side’s defenders can continue their impressive form seen thus far on the campaign. When asked his prediction for the match, Jake was confident in his side’s ability to contain a likely Ings-less Saints attack and score against whichever keeper starts in net for Ralph:

"“Again, as a lifelong Leicester fan, I hesitate to make solid predictions, after being burned so many times. I think this game is winnable for us, but this season has brought a lot of surprises. I’ll go with 2-1 to Leicester.”"