At the end of a week which Jamie Vardy spent in the surrounds of the Royal courts of justice supporting his wife in the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial, the Leicester striker returned to the day job, proudly pointing to his name on his shirt after scoring the second goal in a comfortable victory against Southampton.
Vardy clinically finished inside the box and instantly made a beeline for the away supporters, who had earlier taken great pleasure in singing “Rooney”. Goals by James Maddison and Ayoze Pérez bookended the scoring, with James Ward-Prowse’s second-half penalty a mere consolation as the visitors ended the season with a fourth successive defeat.
For Leicester, a comprehensive victory was enough to secure eighth at the end of a testing campaign. It felt almost fitting that Jon Moss’s final game as a Premier League referee was embroiled in controversy, after a drop-ball deep inside Leicester’s half ended with Maddison tucking in the opener after Vardy’s shot had been saved by the Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy. Moss will move into a role at the PGMOL managing top-flight referees next season.
Kasper Schmeichel walloped a kick downfield after receiving the ball from Wesley Fofana after Moss invited the ball to be played back to Leicester following a coming together between Oriol Romeu and Vardy, the former fending off the striker who was left clutching his face. Lyanco failed to deal with Schmeichel’s direct kick, ballooning his first attempt at a headed clearance into the sky before cushioning his second into the path of Vardy, whose shot was straight at McCarthy. But the ball fell at the feet of Maddison, who was on hand to score the rebound, his 18th goal of the season.
Ralph Hasenhüttl, Southampton’s manager, said Leicester refused to entertain the idea of allowing Saints to score an equaliser immediately after the restart. “There was an offer from my side: ‘Let us run with the ball, to let us score a goal,’” he said. “We tried it. You can see Arma [Adam Armstrong] runs with the ball and tries to attack, but they attacked him. We always speak about “respect” and “fair play” and when you act like this for me it’s not acceptable. I don’t want to be a bad loser but it was clear that such a situation changes everything. Everybody has seen that this situation was not fair.”
Ward-Prowse reduced the deficit after Youri Tielemans’ foul but Pérez struck twice late on, stabbing in Maddison’s pass and then finishing from close range after the substitute Ricardo Pereira’s cross.Southampton’s season, which has flatlined since February, ended with a whimper. Nathan Redmond saw a tame header saved and his strike partner, Adam Armstrong was withdrawn shortly after a clash of heads with Jonny Evans. The Chelsea loanee Armando Broja travelled with Southampton but was left out of the squad, one of three changes from defeat against Liverpool in midweek with Hasenhüttl preferring to start players who will definitely begin next season with the club. “We are not the brightest light on the Christmas tree that everybody looks at,” the Southampton manager said.
