The Big Match: Leicester v Southampton stats, team news, prediction & TV channel

FA Cup: Leicester v Southampton

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 6.30pm Sunday

Match odds

19-20 Leicester, 3 Southampton, 5-2 draw

Form

Leicester are enjoying an excellent season but there are reasons to believe that they could be upset by Southampton when they clash in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

The Foxes have suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats to Man City and West Ham and their 3-2 loss to the Hammers last weekend was particularly damaging to their top-four hopes.

Brendan Rodgers' side have won just three of their last eight matches and they perhaps aren't in the same form as they were in the early part of the campaign.

Southampton were extremely disappointing when losing 3-0 to West Brom on Monday night, but the Saints have been good enough to beat Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton this term and they have also put up spirited displays against Man City, Chelsea and Man Utd.

Team news

Leicester
Cengiz Under, Wes Morgan and Harvey Barnes are all out for the Foxes, but Ayoze Perez, James Maddison, Hamza Choudhury and Caglar Soyuncu are back in contention.

Southampton
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has hinted he will make changes to his side after their disappointing display on Monday night.

The tactical battle

Leicester's direct style is set-up to hit teams on the break and punish opponents for any mistakes they make. Southampton play with plenty of pace and energy and it's likely that the team that turns the opposition defence with greater regularity will have most the success.

Jamie Vardy is so often Leicester's go-to man and his goalscoring and speed is a major weapon in the Foxes arsenal. However, the former England striker has netted just once in his last 18 matches and that could blunt their threat.

Verdict

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s small squad has been hit fairly hard by injuries this term, and along with being safely tucked away in mid table, that probably goes a fair way to explaining a mid-season blip that saw the Saints go eight Premier League matches without a win.

However, you get the impression that Southampton still have a big performance in them and they are perhaps facing Leicester at the right time. There certainly looks enough juice in the 3-1 on offer about the Saints and that looks worth a punt.

Key stats

• Jamie Vardy has scored just one goal in his last 18 games
• Leicester have won just three of their last eight matches
• There have been at least three goals in six of the last nine meetings between these sides.

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