Southampton saw off Leicester City at the weekend to send the Foxes down to third in the Premier League and move Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side closer to Europe than the relegation zone. It was a fitting victory for the south coast side who have been transformed since their last meeting with Leicester when they lost by a staggering nine-goal margin. The Saints stand out performer on Saturday was Stuart Armstrong and the right-sided midfielder embodied his Austrian manager’s high-intensity style of play.
Even out wide Armstrong was able to marshal the Foxes into areas where he could isolate opposition players, making three tackles, while helping Cedric Soares behind him. The 27-year-old also got his positioning spot on to register an interception and get rid of the impending danger with a clearance on two occasions. However, a criticism of Armstrong is that he did commit two fouls, of which only Ryan Bertrand conceded more, and he picked up a yellow card for his troubles.
While in possession, Armstrong was highly influential in forward areas as only Nathan Redmond made more key passes than Scottish international’s two, to slice Leicester City open. Despite the 27-year-old failing to register an assist, his ability to supply such a high frequency of key passes from only making 12 in the match was particularly impressive.
A criticism his manager may have is that Armstrong made the least passes of any Southampton player who started the game, but it was what he did with them that counted, and Hasenhuttl will have been pleased to see 91.7 percent of his passes reach a teammate. To complete an efficient afternoon, the winger whipped in three crosses, of which two were directed goalward by his fellow Southampton players.
Aside from striker Danny Ings, no Southampton player took on more shots than Armstrong’s three, the first of which led to the Scottish international levelling the scoring after Dennis Praet had put the Saints behind.
The effort opened Armstrong’s account for the campaign, in only his third Premier League start. Furthermore, the winger completed two successful dribbles, and his performance will have given manager Hasenhuttl plenty to think about in Armstrong’s bid to start for Southampton more regularly. Fundamentally though he helped exercise revenge for his side after the heaviest defeat in their history.
