Champions Leicester slip to new low at Southampton

Tuesday, 24 January 2017 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Football soccer Britain Southampton v Leicester City - Premier League - St Mary's Stadium - 22/1/17 Southampton's Dusan Tadic scores their third goal from the penalty spot Action Images via Reuters / Paul Childs Livepic

Reuters: Champions Leicester City’s alarming slump continued with a 3-0 Premier League defeat at Southampton on Sunday that left them just five points off the drop zone and firmly embroiled in a relegation fight.

First-half goals for James Ward-Prowse and Jay Rodriguez plus a late penalty by Dusan Tadic led the Saints to a comfortable win that came at the cost of an injury to key defender Virgil van Dyke, who hobbled off in the second half. Ward-Prowse opened the scoring after 26 minutes following good approach play from Cedric Soares, before Rodriguez doubled the lead in the 39th after reacting quickest to a bouncing ball in the box to fire a left-foot shot past the keeper.

After the break, Wes Morgan was fortunate when his own goal was ruled out for offside but Leicester’s captain then held back Shane Long for a penalty that Tadic thumped home as Southampton emphatically ended a run of four successive league defeats.

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri vowed to return to basics as they seek to pull away from the relegation zone.

“I think (in) the last matches I changed (the team’s) shape to try to help my players play better but maybe I made mistakes,” he said.

“Against Chelsea (in a 3-0 home defeat) we played three at the back and today we wanted to play with a diamond. The players are used to 4-4-1-1 and know the positions but I made a mistake.

“I think it is much better (to) give them what they know well. We tried to change our shape at halftime, to make a goal and we would have a chance to change the match. They won. They played better and deserved to win.”