Jamie Vardy and Jordan Ayew scored as Leicester City ended their nine-game Premier League losing run on home soil and an 11-match winless run overall with a 2-0 victory over fellow relegated side Southampton.
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Leicester had also gone nine home league matches without a goal, with fans at the King Power Stadium having nothing to celebrate since a 2-2 draw at home to Brighton & Hove Albion in early December.
But Vardy ended their drought in the 17th minute with his 199th goal for the Foxes, before Ayew scored a brilliant second late in the first half.
The closest Southampton came to a response was when Mateus Fernandes had a close-range finish disallowed for offside, with Saturday's defeat ensuring they will finish bottom.
Leicester move on to 21 points from 35 games, though they are still 19th, one point behind Ipswich Town who drew 2-2 at Everton.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 |
West Ham
WHU
|
34 | -19 | 36 |
| 18 |
Ipswich
IPS
|
35 | -41 | 22 |
| 19 |
Leicester
LEI
|
35 | -47 | 21 |
| 20 |
Southampton
SOU
|
35 | -57 | 11 |
How the match unfolded
After a low-key opening, Leicester took the lead via a well-worked goal. Bilal El Khannouss played a give-and-go with Luke Thomas down the left before crossing for Vardy, who finished emphatically into the roof of the net.
The game was then halted for over 10 minutes as referee David Webb – overseeing his first Premier League match – was injured in an accidental collision with Ayew and replaced by Sam Barrott.
Leicester doubled their lead in the 44th minute through Ayew, who struck the wall from a free-kick but then rifled into the bottom-left corner on the rebound.
El Khannouss had the home fans out of their seats when he slipped the ball between Taylor Harwood-Bellis' legs early in the second half, but he could not keep his curling shot down.
Southampton thought they had one back in the 55th minute as Fernandes tucked home on the rebound from Paul Onuachu's saved header, only to be flagged offside.
Aaron Ramsdale repelled a Vardy free-kick and El Khannouss dragged wide as Leicester finished strongly, while Onuachu saw a late header deflect into the side netting to cap a disappointing day for Southampton.
Long Leicester wait over
It is fair to say Leicester's season ticket holders have had little to celebrate lately. The Foxes could have become just the second team in English league history to go 10 consecutive home games without a goal, after Wolves in 1984/85.
But with their final two home games of 2024/25 coming against Southampton and Ipswich, Ruud van Nistelrooy's team had a chance to end a demoralising campaign on a positive note.
And the Leicester fans in attendance on Saturday got to celebrate what could be Vardy's final goal at the King Power, following the announcement he will leave at the end of the season.
Vardy may have turned 38 in January, but he still maintains his predatory instincts. He showed great awareness to hang near the edge of the area before darting into position to convert El Khannouss's cross.
The former Premier League champion's legacy is not only about his goals, but also his eccentricity. When Webb went down midway through the opening half, Vardy took it upon himself to halt play by blowing the referee's whistle.
Vardy will certainly be missed by the club he has represented since 2012, and his team-mates will be desperate to help him reach 200 Leicester goals in the closing weeks of the season.
He has three games remaining to hit that landmark, with a home match against Ipswich sandwiched between trips to Nottingham Forest and AFC Bournemouth.
Southampton still tied with Derby
While Leicester's main point of interest is ensuring Vardy goes out on a high, Southampton are playing to avoid an unwanted piece of history.
They drew level with Derby County's record low of 11 points in a Premier League season on 19 April by battling to a 1-1 draw with West Ham United.
A big chance to surpass that tally came and went last week, as they squandered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 at home to Fulham.
Interim manager Simon Rusk would have viewed this game as another opportunity to overhaul Derby, but Southampton failed to inspire their travelling fans after a tepid display.
An early header from Harwood-Bellis – easily claimed by Jakub Stolarczyk – represented Southampton's only shot on target in the first half, and groans were audible from the away end when they went backwards from a promising position on the stroke of half-time.
Four substitutions from Rusk brought about a brief improvement as the Saints started to go direct to Onuachu, but the introduction of 15-year-old Jeremy Monga helped Leicester up the tempo, and the visitors limped to the finish line.
Southampton are just the second club to finish bottom of the Premier League on three occasions, after Sunderland, and their quest to avoid an unwanted place in the history books now gets trickier, with Manchester City, Everton and Arsenal their final three opponents.
Club reports
Leicester report | Southampton report
What the managers said
Ruud Van Nistelrooy: "It feels good to win again and to break the cycle of the home games without scoring. We said before the game we wanted to give some positivity towards the fans, the team and giving young players an opportunity. All of that came together."
Simon Rusk: "We started fairly fell and we're really disappointed with the fashion of the goal. It gave them a bit of life, energy and in the end they were worthy of their win. The performance levels ran away from us."
Remaining PL fixtures
Key facts
Leicester have won 15 games and scored 63 goals against Southampton, both more than they have against any other side in the Premier League.
Southampton have lost four consecutive league games against Leicester for the first time in the top four tiers, while the Foxes have done the double over the Saints in the top flight for the first time since 1999/00.
Vardy's strike was Leicester's first home league goal since December (Bobby De Cordova-Reid v Brighton), ending the Foxes' run of 826 minutes without scoring at the King Power Stadium.
Defeat in this match confirmed that Southampton will finish bottom of the Premier League this season. It’s the third time that the Saints have finished last (also 2004/05 and 2022/23), the joint-most of any side in the competition (Sunderland in 2002/03, 2005/06 and 2016/17).
