Southampton v Leicester predictions: Foxes to add to Saints' woes

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event & Premier League, 5.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Leicester
1pt 8-5 general

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Team news

Southampton
Che Adams is fit after a lay-off. Juan Larios and Tino Livramento remain crocked.

Leicester
James Maddison is expected to be fit. Youri Tielemans has joined Jonny Evans and James Justin on the sidelines.

Southampton v Leicester predictions

Southampton did Leicester a massive favour this week by upstaging the Foxes' FA Cup nightmare and Brendan Rodgers can pile further gloom on the Saints by pocketing three points at St Mary's.

City were mauled in the media on Wednesday morning following their disappointing 2-1 home loss to Blackburn in the fifth round of a tournament they must have fancied they could win.

But their blushes were soon being wiped away thanks to Southampton's horror show against Grimsby which also ended 2-1 and, again, not in the way the layers envisaged.

Southampton's sorry season had hit a low point which won't be eclipsed until they are relegated which, barring an astonishing upturn and any amount of good fortune, looks nailed on.

Granted, embarrassed head coach Ruben Selles will tear up the team sheet from Wednesday night with accident-prone defenders Lyanco and Dujan Caleta-Car, plus a fair few others, rightly returned to barracks.

But when the club with the worst home record in the section are pretty much pinning their hopes for this game and any other on the free-kick taking prowess of an okay midfielder, then they really are in trouble.

You would naturally expect a response to the awful performance of midweek but the reality is that the squad at St Mary's simply isn't very good and Leicester, terribly inconsistent but really decent when they do find their mojo, have got a golden opportunity of landing the odds and possibly putting welcome daylight between themselves and the bottom three.

The visitors will want James Maddison back. Leicester's record without him – one win and six defeats in the seven league games he has missed – shows the importance of a player who creates chances and score goals.

They head south having suffered three straight losses, although two of those were at Manchester United and at home to Arsenal and they played well in the latter of those. Then came the Blackburn debacle, although Rodgers had shaken up his team.

Southampton have lost seven of their last nine in all competitions.

They look a shambles at the back whoever plays there and light up top whoever plays there. So all eyes these days are on James Ward-Prowse, their talismanic skipper and set-piece specialist, who has scored five times since Christmas including the winner at Chelsea two weeks ago.

Saints haven't won any of their last five home games against Leicester, a sequence that includes that never-to-be-forgotten 9-0 dismantling in 2019, a game in which Maddison starred and scored.

Key stat

Leicester have won six of the last eight matches which James Maddison has started

Probable teams

Southampton (4-3-3): Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Perraud; Alcaraz, Ward-Prowse, Lavia; Elyounoussi, Adams, Sulemana.
Subs: Salisu, Bree, Caleta-Car, Maitland-Niles, S Armstrong, Walcott, Diallo, A Armstrong, Aribo, Mara, Edozie, Djenepo, Onuachu

Leicester (4-2-1-3): Ward; Castagne, Souttar, Faes, Kristiansen; Mendy, Dewsbury-Hall; Maddison; Tete, Iheanacho, Barnes.
Subs: Thomas, Amartey, Pereira, Ndidi, Praet, Soumare, Vardy, Daka