LEICESTER, England — The security guard tasked with pat-down duties at the entrance to the King Power Stadium ahead of Leicester City’s Premier League game against Southampton had a wry grin on his face. “Enjoy,” he said, as he granted access. “If you can!”
It’s a line he will have grown accustomed to saying this season. Leicester, shock champions in 2016, had already seen their relegation back to the EFL Championship confirmed, and they faced Southampton having failed to score in any of their last nine home league games — a run stretching back to a 2-2 draw against Brighton on Dec. 8.
They say that there is always somebody in a worse situation than your own and, well, that just happens to be Southampton, also sent back to the second tier after one season, and a team that arrived at Leicester still needing a point to escape the ignominy of matching Derby County’s record low points tally of 11, set in 2007-08.
For a fixture that had earned the billing of being the worst Premier League game in history, some fans had even taken to social media to label it as “El Crapico” — a team that can’t score against a side that can’t seemingly do anything.
In the end, Leicester enjoyed a rare day of joy and that simple sensation of being able to celebrate a win. Jamie Vardy’s 17th-minute goal was their first in the league at the King Power for 826 minutes — Jordan Ayew made it 2-0 before half-time — the 38-year-old’s 199th in all competitions for the club he helped to win the league.
‘El Crapico’ tickets have arrived pic.twitter.com/9BqnAYi7Xx
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) April 23, 2025
Vardy will leave Leicester when his contract expires next month. The former England striker described this season as a “s—show” when he announced his impending departure recently, but he can at least end on a personal high by taking his tally to 200 goals.
“If it’s 199, it won’t make him any less of a club legend, the guy who the title here,” manager Ruud van Nistelrooy said. “But of course he wants that round figure because I think it looks nice.”
Before the game, the stadium big screen had reminded supporters to wave their flags when Leicester scored. It seemed optimistic, but they were playing Southampton, after all.
For the Saints, the misery goes on and they now have just three games — at home to Manchester City and Arsenal and away to Everton — in which to earn the point that will take them to 12 and ensure they don’t join Derby as statistically the worst team in Premier League history.
Their supporters clearly have little faith that the team, now under their third manager of the season in Simon Rusk, can earn that point.
“You’re not fit to wear the shirt!” they chanted as Southampton handed Leicester an easy 2-0 win, but there was always some gallows humor as they attempted to mock the home fans’ celebrations.
“You’re nothing special, we lose every week!” the Saints fans sang as they contemplated returning to the same stadium next season for a Championship fixture.
It was Southampton’s 28th defeat in 35 league games, Leicester’s fifth league victory, and it felt like watching football in the Twilight Zone. It happened, but nobody was taking too much notice.
Derby’s record low haunts Southampton
Derby’s 11-point mark has been hanging over Southampton for months. They have only collected five points in 2025 and haven’t won since a 2-1 win at Ipswich Town, also relegated, in February.
They came tantalizingly close to reaching 12 points at home to Fulham last week, but after taking a first-half lead, Southampton conceded a 72nd minute equalizer before losing to a Ryan Sessegnon goal deep into stoppage time, so zero points again.
The trip to Leicester was Southampton’s red-letter day and best chance of securing that solitary point to avoid matching Derby’s unenviable record.
“We had to get the point at Leicester,” Southampton fan Steve Grant, host of the Total Saints podcast, told ESPN. “It was ‘Leicester or Bust’ because our final three games are against City, Arsenal and Everton, but the Everton game is their last-ever match at Goodison Park, so it’s hard to see us getting a point there. Although it would be a funny if we somehow do it at Everton and they leave the Goodison pitch for the final time to a chorus of boos.
“The reality now is that the Premier League has a stable 17 and three promoted clubs, though. The gulf between the league and the Championship is massive and it’s no surprise the three promoted clubs have gone down for the second successive season.
“Even if we end up with 11 points and match Derby’s record, whoever comes up from the Championship via the playoffs this season will be contenders to get fewer than 11 points next year.”
That will certainly be welcomed in Derby and by those associated with the team’s humiliation in 2007-08. Paul Jewell, who made his name as a manager by guiding unfancied Bradford City and Wigan Athletic to promotion to the Premier League, took charge of Derby in November 2007 with the team already anchored to the foot of the table and he admits he should never have taken the job.
“I remember driving to Derby and I took a call from David Moyes on the way down,” Jewell told ESPN. “David asked what I was doing and I told him I was about to join Derby. He asked where I was and when I told him I was on the motorway, he said to turn around and go home because Everton had beaten them in October and he had told his staff that Derby wouldn’t win another game all season. I should have listened — he was right!
“We lost a few early games by the odd goal and then drew 2-2 at Newcastle after conceding an 88th-minute equaliser. It became a trend. I could never tell the players that a win today would help us close a gap because the gap was already massive, so the rot had set in. That’s exactly what it will be like for Leicester and Southampton.
“But do I want Southampton to end up on 11 points like Derby? Absolutely! Because somebody else will be able to take this phone call next season rather than me!”
It is a real prospect, however, that some club will record fewer than 11 points in a Premier League season sooner or later. Southampton spent £105 million on new signings last summer, including goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale from Arsenal and defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis from Manchester City, and they have been marooned in the relegation zone all season.
Leicester, having lost promotion-winning manager Enzo Maresca to Chelsea, spent £78 million on reinforcements and hired Steve Cooper, the former Nottingham Forest manager, to replace Maresca.
But Cooper was fired in November after just 15 games in charge — the Foxes were outside the relegation zone at this stage — and replaced by Van Nistelrooy, who has managed just four wins in 24 matches. Southampton, meanwhile, fired Russel Martin in December and replaced him with Ivan Juric, who lasted just 16 games — losing 13 and winning just two — before he was dismissed in April.
Southampton’s Premier League malaise is deep-rooted, though. Their last six Premier League wins, dating back to October 2022, have been achieved by five different managers Juric, Martin, Ruben Selles, Nathan Jones and Ralph Hasenhuttl. It will be a surprise if Rusk adds his name to that list this season.
“Our problem is that we stuck in a rut of being too good for the Championship, but too weak for the Premier League,” Saints fan Grant said. “It has been fairly tedious watching us this season, and I have not bothered with the games at the big clubs because you know how they will end up, but I’m still a fan who wants those big moments, so of course I will want us to be promoted back to the Premier League next season.”
At least Leicester had something to cheer, for once
Leicester and Southampton were both already doomed to relegation, but it was a good day for the Foxes.
“The first goal at home in a long, long, long time and we were ready to break that cycle today,” Van Nistelrooy said. “It was a relief to go ahead. I can’t remember the last time we did that.
“It [goal drought] weighed on all of us. Just look at the stat — eight games without scoring, it’s difficult. Nobody gives you any gifts in this game, but I’m pleased for the players that the run is broken.
“I need to find way to motivate the team because we know we are not staying up. The objective now is to be in best place possible for next season.”
Van Nistelrooy declined to address his own future and whether he will still be in charge next season, but it is unlikely that he will survive after such a woeful run of results.
The same applies to Rusk, who has stepped up from his role as under-21 coach to take interim charge of Southampton. He was taunted by chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” after replacing Mateus Fernandes in the second half and he gave an honest appraisal of the pressure he is under.
“I’m in a difficult situation,” Rusk told reporters. “This is tough for me, I was surprised by that [chanting]. It hurts. It’s a difficult situation. We were relegated with seven games to go and it’s not easy, but it’s important we stay glued together.
“We need the people who travel to support us. I understand their frustration, but we’re not good enough and we’re finding it hard. When confidence levels are low, it can look like people aren’t trying. But it can feel very lonely on the pitch and sometimes your legs can’t do what you want them to do and maybe that’s what happened today.”
So while Leicester and their supporters can celebrate a win and an end to their home goal drought, Southampton still need that one point to avoid ignominy — and their next opponents are Manchester City.
“The points thing is the points thing,” Rusk said. “Our draw at West Ham moved the first barrier [of getting fewer than 11 points], but we haven’t got something out of this game.
“We just have to prepare for City now. We wanted something here to get past the points record, but we haven’t done it.”
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