U18 Preview: Saints vs Leicester City

Saints vs Leicester City

Under-18 Premier League Cup

Snows Stadium

Friday 15 October, 1:30pm BST

Having fell to a 3-0 defeat to Leicester in the league just a couple of weeks ago, Saints will be looking to enact revenge at Snows Stadium on Friday.

The visitors claimed a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United in their first Premier League Cup outing last Friday.

Meanwhile. Saints fell to a 4-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in Group A back in September and will be looking to pick up their first three points in the competition.

Having had an initially positive start to the season, Saints’ youngster will be looking to return to winning ways after an unfortunate streak in recent weeks.

Kian Pennant opened the scoring when these two sides met earlier this month, before a brace from Christopher Popov secured all three points for Leicester.

It was a closer affair back in February when Saints travelled to Leicester, with Oliver James Ewing the decisive goal in the home sides 1-0 victory.

It’s almost a year to the day that Saints’ youngsters raced to an emphatic 8-2 victory over Friday’s opponents at Staplewood Campus.

Sam Bellis netted an impressive hat-trick on the day while Kazeem Olaigbe bagged himself a brace.

Goran Babic, Jack Turner and Diamond Edwards also found themselves on the scoresheet.

"It’s an interesting one tomorrow, it’s sort of a unique situation,” said Under-18s Individual Coach Mikey Harris. “It’s very rare you obviously play a team and then play them again so quickly.

“Our last game a couple of weeks ago was against Leicester and it was a really, really difficult game for us as the result showed.

“I think it was a really good opportunity for the players to learn some harsh lessons about this level of football.

“They’re a very good side and I think it’ll be a really good challenge for the boys and it’ll be interesting to see how they respond given the last game.”