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A goal from Wes Morgan was enough for Leicester to claim victory over Southampton and move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League.
The Foxes skipper was leading by example once again but took some time out from defending to score the winner at the King Power Stadium.
It was suddenly an even bigger match for the title-chasers after Tottenham slipped up by dropping two points at Anfield and Claudio Ranieri’s men made another huge statement in their hunt for Premier League glory.
The Leicester players had a very successful international break including N’Golo Kante scoring for France on his full debut, Jamie Vardy finding the net twice for England and his national teammate Danny Drinkwater impressing on his debut.
Despite some early Leicester pressure Southampton had the first real chance of the game; Sadio Mane had a free run on goal and after taking the ball past Kasper Schmeichel he saw his effort remarkably blocked by Danny Simpson.
As half-time approached it looked as though the sides would be level but Morgan was left unmarked in the penalty area to head home a Christian Fuchs cross. This was the Jamaican international’s first goal of the season and it turned out to be the winner.
Fraser Forster is to thank for keeping the Saints in the game as he superbly denied Simpson and prevented an own goal in the second half.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman was aggrieved at a lack of refereeing decisions in his side’s favour, feeling Simpson and Robert Huth handled the ball inside the penalty area on two separate occasions.
The Dutchman called upon Dusan Tadic, Charlie Austin and James Ward-Prowse in the hope of rescuing a result but the resilience of the Foxes proved too difficult to break down.
This was the fifth victory by a 1-0 scoreline in the last six games for the Foxes; they are playing like champions and have discovered the importance of grinding out results at this late stage in the season.
Free drinks and doughnuts were distributed amongst the fans in attendance to celebrate the Leicester chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s birthday, reflecting the strong relationship between owners and supporters.
If the Foxes can win four of their remaining six games the celebrations may continue for a very long time.
