Southampton 1-0 Leicester: Carlos Alcaraz bags first-half winner to move Saints off the bottom of the league with a vital three points. . .
but hosts ride their luck with Harry Souttar rattling the bar in stoppage time Southampton picked up a second home win of the season against Leicester 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz scored the only goal of the game in the first half James Ward-Prowse missed a penalty on his record 330th Saints appearance By Paul Brown For The Mail On Sunday Published: 19:28 GMT, 4 March 2023 | Updated: 20:00 GMT, 4 March 2023 e-mail View comments James Ward-Prowse hit a milestone and missed a penalty but still led Southampton off the foot of the table. Saints skipper Ward-Prowse made his 330th appearance for the club, overtaking cult hero Jason Dodd to top their all-time list. But he had new boy Carlos Alcaraz to thank for saving his bacon after Danny Ward saved the England midfielder’s first-half penalty.
Alcaraz, who later limped off after injuring himself celebrating his goal, scored for the second time in five Premier League appearances after his £12m January move from Racing Club in Argentina. And after a series of dreadful misses from Kelechi Iheanacho and a stoppage-time miss from Harry Souttar, it proved enough for Saints to leapfrog Bournemouth, who lost a heartbreaker to Arsenal earlier in the day. Carlos Alcaraz scored the only goal of the game on Saturday as Southampton moved off the foot of the table with a win over Leicester Leicester struggled to find the net despite a multitude of chances on the South Coast The win was just Southampton's second at home in the league all season Both teams went into the game on the back of midweek FA Cup humblings, with Southampton’s winning the wooden spoon for biggest embarrassment of the round.
They lost at home to Grimsby, the lowest ranked team left in the competition, while Leicester were beaten at home by Blackburn. Both these sides know Premier League survival is the name of the game though, and named much stronger line-ups for this clash between two basement dwellers. Leicester had not won here since the monumental 9-0 thumping they handed Saints in October 2019 - still the biggest away win in English top-flight history.
Just how tight it remains at the wrong end of the table was underlined by the fact that only six points separated the two teams before kick-off. Saints were the more desperate, and started strongly after electing to start with Theo Walcott up front. MATCH FACTS SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): Bazunu 5; Maitland-Niles 6, Bednarek 7, Bella-Kotchap 6, Walker-Peters 6; Alcaraz 7.
5 (Elyounoussi 50, 6), Ward-Prowse 6, Lavia 6, Sulemana 6 (S Armstrong 80); Adams 6 (Mara 63, 6), Walcott 6. 5 (A Armstriong 63, 6). Subs: Caballero, Onuachu, Perraud, Djenepo, Salisu, L EICESTER (4-2-3-1): Ward 7; Pereira 6, Souttar 6, Faes 5, Castagne 6; Dewsbury-Hall 6, Mendy 6 (Ndidi 68, 6); Tete 6 (Vardy 68, 6), Maddison 6, Barnes 5 (Praet 46, 6); Iheanacho 4.
Subs: Iversen, Soyuncu, Amartey, Daka, Thomas, Soiumare Referee: Robert Jones 6
uk/v8/sg/sport/football/article/other/mpu_factbox. html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - -> Advertisement He had the game’s first chance, created when Ainsley Maitland-Niles beat Wout Faes down the line, but team-mate Kamaldeen Sulemana got in the way and blocked Walcott’s shot. Saints had a lucky escape though when Kelechi Iheanacho sent a free header wide from inside the six-yard box after an inswinging free kick from James Maddison.
In fact, the longer the first half went on the more Leicester started to dominate, and the more restless and frustrated the home fans grew, with every misplaced pass met with groans. So there was huge relief when referee Robert Jones pointed to the spot in the 31st minute. It was Timothy Castagne who gave it away, sliding in to block Walcott’s cross with a raised arm.
But while just about everyone in the ground expected Ward-Prowse to capitalise from the spot, Danny Ward guessed the right way and saved his penalty. The jeers from the away fans quickly turned to cheers from the home supporters when Carlos Alcaraz found himself clean through on goal and tucked his shot into the far corner. But there was tension in the air as VAR Tony Harrington checked whether Che Adams was offside in the build-up… and roars of relief when the goal stood.
Dead-ball specialist James Ward-Prowse had a penalty saved on his record 330th appearance for the club Brendan Rodgers' side now sit just three points above the relegation zone with 13 games left to play That left Leicester with a mountain to climb. And the omens were not good as the Foxes had lost their previous 11 league games when behind at half time. Iheanacho absolutely had to equalise when Castagne picked him out all alone inside the six-yard box only for him to glance another header wide.
Gavin Bazunu presented him with another brilliant chance with a terrible clearance, but Iheanacho’s shot skimmed the top of the crossbar with only the keeper to beat. And when Faes headed a late corner well wide and Harry Souttar sent a point-blank diving header against the bar, the game was up for Leicester, who could have played all week without scoring. Share or comment on this article: Southampton 1-0 Leicester: Carlos Alcaraz bags first-half winner e-mail Add comment Comments 0 Share what you think No comments have so far been submitted.
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