Two teams which came up from the Championship going head to head for extremely valuable Premier League match on Saturday afternoon; Southampton hosted Leicester City.
The Saints performed well against Arsenal two weeks ago but lost 3-1 while the Foxes injected some venom into themselves to beat Bournemouth 1-0.
One where a home rout was on the cards from the onset of the first half instead rose hope of an Emirates embarrassment last weekend when Southampton proved resilient seeing out first-half Arsenal pressure to snatch an unlikely lead via Camarence Archer.
However, the travelling army were only on could nine for a mere three minutes, as Kai Havertz capitalised on a Saints error to draw Arsenal level, before Gabriel Martinelli’s back-stick volley and Bukayo Saka’s late finish completed the Arsenal turnaround.
Victory for the first time this season now appears nearly impossible for Southampton as they join Ipswich Town, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers in having claimed only one point from the opening five Premier League fixtures.
However, the target of the criticism Russell Martin stays in the hotseat for the time being at least, while the Saints appointment could soon become a part of the wrong kind of history; if Southampton do not record a victory on Saturday, the new club record will be 21 games without a victory when staying at the top-flight level.
Being the team that was dubbed as having the most possession, Southampton have been unable to impose this on the opponents’ goal, as the Saints have scored a meagre 4 goals so far, which is the worst record in the current Premier League season.
The future rivals Leicester City, who left Southampton behind in the winless club with a hard-fought one-goal victory against Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth, had a totally different narrative than Southampton, who failed to hold onto a slim lead two weeks ago.
Facundo Buonanotte, who plays for Brighton & Hove Albion, scored the game's lone goal at the King Power Stadium with a clean finish at the 16-minute mark. Leicester's victory was their first league victory since April and only their third overall this season, following their EFL Cup victories over Walsall and Tranmere Rovers.
A first victory was long delayed, and Steve Cooper's squad currently sits in the relative safety of 15th position, three points above the drop zone, as the Foxes are one of just three sides to score in every Premier League game this season, along with Manchester City and Arsenal.
The Foxes manager's next goal is to halt Leicester's depressing 11-game losing skid in the Premier League away from home. This trend dates back to February 2023, when they defeated Aston Villa 4–2, the last time they won back-to-back Premier League games.
Leicester repeated their nine-goal trick against Southampton in the Championship last season, but this time it was spread over two games instead of one. A 4-1 South Coast thumping came before a 5-0 thumping at the King Power, where Abdul Fatawu helped himself to a hat-trick. This was five years after the notorious 9-0 St Mary's massacre.
Jack Stephens, who had previously served a three-game suspension for his red card against Manchester United, received an additional two-game suspension for using foul language against the referees before to the victory over Arsenal. This is his second game of that sentence.
In the first half of the Saints' loss to Arsenal, their unfortunate striker Ross Stewart suffered a muscle injury; Martin has confirmed that he will not play this weekend. Yukinari Sugawara also had a blow, but he is now part of the Japan group for the international break.
After playing a few minutes for Denmark this month, towering defender Jannik Vestergaard is now scheduled to make his domestic comeback, and Cooper has confirmed that Leicester's injury situation is the same as it was prior to the international break.
