Southampton 2-3 Leicester: Foxes come from two goals down to make it back-to-back wins thanks to Jordan Ayew’s 98th minute strike

A brilliant second-half comeback from the fabulous Foxes has left Saints boss Russell Martin on the brink.

Martin, without a win all season, must have thought he had finally cracked it when his side raced into a two-goal lead at half-time.

But the game turned after the introduction of Abdul Fatawu, who wreaked havoc down the Leicester right and inspired a memorable comeback for Steve Cooper’s side, the first time Leicester have ever come back from a two-goal deficit in the Premier League.

It means Southampton are without a win in the top flight for 21 games, since they defeated Leicester in March 2023, the season they finished bottom.

Martin said: ‘We have a man sent off and it changed the context of the game completely. We started the game brilliantly, played so well.’

Cameron Archer gave the hosts the lead with a close-range finish inside eight minutes

Joe Aribo (left)  put the ending touch to Kyle Walker-Peters’ great work down the left side 

The Saints boss was furious that Leicester’s 98th-minute winner came from another set-piece, with Saints down to 10 men after Ryan Fraser was sent off for fouling Jamie Vardy in the build-up to Leicester’s equaliser just 12 minutes after coming on.

‘Today, we are down to 10 men and we have a few subs on but one person had one job to do that would have stopped that goal and they didn’t.

‘The concern is that the person didn’t do their job. It’s about taking responsibility and doing what you are asked to do.’

Southampton had raced into a two-goal lead after Cameron Archer converted Ryan Manning’s low cross and Joe Aribo did likewise from Kyle Walker-Peters’ excellent run and pull-back.

Abdul Fatawu made progress down the right before Facundo Buonanotte bundled the ball in

Vardy converted powerfully from the penalty spot for his third goal of the season

It could have been even better for Martin with Aribo also striking the crossbar from Manning’s corner in the fourth minute and Mads Hermansen somehow stopping Flynn Downes’s close-range volley.

As the half wore on, Leicester rallied and a curling shot from Bilal El Kannouss against the far post, with keeper Aaron Ramsdale well beaten, almost provided them with a way back into the game.

The game changed once Fatawu came off the bench. He provided the assist for Facundo Buonanotte to score and rattled the bar himself after an excellent run and shot soon afterwards.

Cooper said: ‘He’s an exciting young player. He did brilliantly for us last year and he’s quickly going to become an exciting Premier League player as well.’

Winks found Ayew unmarked on the edge of the box and the forward fired into the bottom corner

Fatawu also had a hand in the equaliser, after Ramsdale saved his header at the far post before Fraser was sent off for pulling Vardy back as he tried to seize on the equaliser. Vardy converted the spot-kick with aplomb and Leicester were back level.

Southampton looked to have held on but, with the final kick of the game, Ayew connected with Harry Winks’s low corner and the ball squirmed beyond Ramsdale and the away end erupted.