Report and free match highlights from Premier League match between Southampton and Leicester City at St Mary's; Cameron Archer and Joe Aribo put Saints in front but goals from Facundo Buonanotte, Jamie Vardy and Jordan Ayew secured a stunning comeback from Steve Cooper's men
Saturday 19 October 2024 22:07, UK
Leicester scored three second-half goals to come from behind and stun 10-player Southampton, denying them a first Premier League win of the season after a gripping 3-2 success at St Mary's.
The result means Saints have set a club record for the longest winless run in their entire top-flight history, having failed to emerge victorious from any of their last 21 Premier League encounters.
Manager Russell Martin insisted he had no concerns about his future.
"No, [I don't have fears about getting sacked," he said. "I had a brilliant chat with Dragan [Solak, Southampton owner] and the guys yesterday. We had a board meeting.
"It was planned, so you can relax. I wouldn't give you any details if we were sitting top of the Premier League."
Inside five minutes, Joe Aribo had crashed a header onto the crossbar and inside seven minutes, the hosts had taken the lead. Kyle Walker-Peters led the charge after a quick free-kick and dropped the ball off to Ryan Manning, who squared for Cameron Archer to coolly slot in and send a wave of both relief and belief around St Mary's.
Aribo finished off a similar move, with Walker-Peters the architect, to double the lead before the half-hour and Saints flew out of the traps after the break, looking to finish off the job in order to take their foot off the pedal somewhat.
Leicester still had not had a shot on target by the hour, so three points were within their grasp. Until they weren't any more.
Abdul Fatawu had a near-immediate impact, getting to the byline and hanging a ball up that Facundo Buonanotte helped in at the far post. Then, he rattled the crossbar with a shot from distance and tested Aaron Ramsdale shortly after the ball was kept in play.
However, VAR spotted that, after the save, Ryan Fraser had held back Jamie Vardy and denied him a goalscoring opportunity. Anthony Taylor went to the monitor and returned soon after, with a red card for Fraser and a penalty award to Leicester.
Vardy slammed home the spot-kick to level the game and, from there, Saints were, understandably deflated. It looked as though they would hold on for a point, but with one of the final kicks of the game, Jordan Ayew was found unmarked at a corner.
He squeezed a shot past Ramsdale and into the bottom right corner to spark a chorus of boos and a mass exodus from the home fans.
Southampton manager Russell Martin:
"We have a man sent off and it changes the context of the game completely. We started the game brilliantly, played so well. I thought we started the second half really well and looked like we were going to score a third goal. Then they scored against the run of play.
"Even at 2-1, it was okay, it was fine and it settled down a bit, then Ryan gets sent off and it changes everything. They scored a penalty after that, the lads defended with absolute spirit, fight and togetherness.
"We brought Kamaldeen [Sulemana] to give us one moment in the box and he had it and didn't make the most of it. Then we conceded. Someone doesn't do what they're asked to do from a corner, again, same as at Ipswich.
"We do [a lot of work on set-pieces] and we should have scored one today. We defended brilliantly against the best set-piece team in Europe against Arsenal and today, we were down to 10 men, one person had one job to do that would have stopped that goal and they didn't.
"The concern is that the person didn't do it. It's not about detail or lack of work. It would be a concern if we had a lack of detail, a lack of work, but it's about taking responsibility and doing what you're asked to do."
On whether he fears for his job after another defeat: "No. I had a brilliant chat with Dragan [Solak, Southampton owner] and the guys yesterday [Friday]. We had a board meeting."
"It was planned, so you can relax. I wouldn't give you any details if we were sitting top of the Premier League."
Leicester manager Steve Cooper:
"It ended up being a brilliant day and will hopefully be memorable for the season. We didn't defend the goals well enough in the first half, of course, but I always felt we were in the game.
"We missed a couple of chances in the first half from set-pieces, we hit the woodwork and thought we should have done better in the first half, I was also pretty confident the game could change.
"We asked the players at half-time, after the tactical things and some of the messages, to really believe in themselves, to really back themselves and to stick together - and that's what we did. Today's a really good show of how together we are.
"It's a brilliant win for the supporters. It's the first away win of the season, we've gone back-to-back and we've got to take everything out of the game today, learn, continue to improve, continue to strive and we'll continue to get better as well."
