Brendan Rodgers acknowledged that Leicester City blew a “perfect situation” to consolidate their position in the Champions League positions after being held by 10-man Southampton on Friday night.
The Foxes played with a man extra for 80 minutes following Jannik Vestergaard’s red card but went behind to a James Ward-Prowse penalty before Jonny Evans bundled in an equaliser.
Leicester remain third in the Premier League table but missed the opportunity to open up a seven-point gap on Chelsea in fourth and a 10-point advantage over West Ham in fifth.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the result considering the circumstances of the game. We’re normally very good in those situations, 11 v 10, playing a large spell with that,” Rodgers said.
“The situation was perfect, so we have no excuses.”
Although Leicester remain in a strong position to clinch a return to the Champions League for the first time in five years, they will be wary of repeating last season’s slip-up which saw them relinquish a top four place on the final day of the campaign. The Foxes have a tough run-in too, with matches against Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs to round off the campaign.
Indeed, even finishing in the top four offers no guarantee that Leicester will be competing against Europe’s elite next term, due to the performances of their league rivals in the Champions League and Europa League.
The winners of the Champions League and Europa League both automatically qualify for the group stages of the Champions League the following season regardless of their domestic league position and there could conceivably be an English winner in each competition.
Manchester City and Chelsea are both in strong positions to reach the Champions League final after promising first leg results, while Manchester United have all but secured their place in the Europa League final. Arsenal have more work to do after losing 2-1 to Villarreal, but their cause is helped by scoring an all-important away goal in Spain.
The nightmare scenario for Leicester would be dropping down to fourth in the Premier League table and seeing Chelsea win the Champions League and Arsenal lift the Europa League if both clubs end up outside the top four positions in the league.
Should that scenario occur, the top three clubs in the Premier League would qualify for the Champions League alongside the winners of both Uefa competitions. That would mean the fourth-placed team would drop into the Europa League.
Leicester’s remaining fixtures
- 7 May – Newcastle (h)
- 12 May – Manchester United (a)
- 19 May – Chelsea (a)
- 23 May – Spurs (h)
It isn’t only Leicester who could be in danger. West Ham, Liverpool and to a lesser extent, Tottenham and Everton, also harbour ambitions of finishing in the top four this season and could, therefore, be reliant on clubs in Europe to do them a favour.
By Tom Prentki at St Mary’s
Leicester missed the chance to further cement their place in the top four after they were held by Southampton, who played for more than 80 minutes with more than ten men.
How Ralph Hasenhuttl must be sick of the sight of Brendan Rodgers’ side. When they met on a Friday night last season at St Mary’s, it ended in a 0-9 humiliation.
That night, Ryan Bertrand was sent off after 12 minutes and Saints were five down at half-time.
Here they lost centre back Jannik Vestergaard after just 10 minutes when Robert Jones sent him off for a challenge on Jamie Vardy.
Vestergaard had miscontrolled Jack Stephens’ pass and then lunged into to retrieve it ahead of Vardy. He won the ball but caught the Leicester striker on his ankle as he followed through and the Saints were up against it once more.
Unlike that previous meeting, there was no capitulation from the home side this time. Southampton were resolute and unyielding and briefly led the game through James Ward-Prowse’s second half penalty.
Southampton had started brightly and had the ball in the net inside two minutes but Kyle Walker-Peters had drifted offside as he neatly converted Vestergaard’s long pass forward.
Saints youngster Nathan Tella then scuffed his shot when well placed after Southampton had pressed Leicester to win possession in dangerous territory.
It was Tella who was sacrificed after Vestergaard had departed as Hasenhuttl brought on another defender, Mohammed Salisu.
The home side were dealing well with their disadvantage and Nathan Redmond tested Kasper Schmeichel with a powerful shot from the edge of the area.
But Leicester were predictably controlling the possession and were finding plenty of space down the right. Youri Tielemans was the first to really test Alex McCarthy from that area with a low drive.
Southampton managed the game well to stay level at half time and this game bore far more resemblance to the cagey FA Cup Semi Final meeting which Leicester had won a fortnight earlier than it did to last year’s mauling at St Mary’s.
Leicester’s three central defenders were looking increasingly superfluous so Brendan Rodgers withdrew Wesley Fofana for Ayoze Perez as the Foxes moved to a 4-2-3-1.
A win here would have all but guaranteed Leicester a top four finish but it they found themselves behind on the hour mark.
Stuart Armstrong won a free kick in the left corner which Ward-Prowse fizzed low to the edge of the area. Armstrong’s rising shot struck the arm of Kelechi Iheanacho and Jones pointed to the spot.
Ward-Prowse converted low into the corner for his eighth goal of the season as Rodgers looked on from the touchline.
The Foxes poured forward and both James Maddison and Perez soon forced McCarthy into action.
No side has lost more points from winning positions than Southampton and Leicester leveled with a well worked goal as Iheanacho crossed for Jonny Evans to nod deftly beyond the Saints keeper.
With seven minutes remaining McCarthy saved brilliantly with his foot after Vardy cut inside Walker-Peters from point-blank range.
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