Match Pack: Leicester City vs Saints

THE MATCH

Leicester City vs Southampton
Wembley Stadium
Emirates FA Cup
Sunday 18 April, 6:30pm BST

THE OFFICIALS

Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Assistant Referees: Dan Cook and Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth Official: David Coote
Video Assistant Referee: Paul Tierney
Additional Video Assistant Referee: Adam Nunn
Reserve Assistant Referee: Nick Hopton

WHICH KIT WILL SAINTS BE WEARING?

Saints will be wearing their white third kit for Sunday’s semi-final clash. You can purchase the third replica shirt from the online Saints Store.

HOW TO WATCH

Southampton’s trip to Wembley will be broadcast live on BT Sport.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Southampton and Leicester City are just one victory away from the Emirates FA Cup final.

Leicester are yet to win the prestigious competition, with Southampton only lifting the silverware once back in 1976.

The two sides are in contrasting form in the Premier League, with Brendan Rodgers’ men currently sitting in third.

Saints sit 14th in the league, but the FA Cup has been a guiding light in an otherwise difficult 2021 for Ralph Hasenhüttl's men. 

ROAD TO THE SEMI FINALS

Leicester:
Stoke City 0-4 Leicester (Justin, Albrighton, Pérez, Barnes)
Brentford 1-3 Leicester City (Ünder, Tielemans, Maddison)
Leicester City 1-0 Brighton (Iheanacho)
Leicester City 3-1 Manchester United (Iheanacho, Tielemans)

Southampton:
Southampton 2-0 Shrewsbury (Nlundulu, Ward-Prowse)
Southampton 1-0 Arsenal
Wolves 0-2 Southampton (Ings, Armstrong)
Bournemouth 0-3 Southampton (Djenepo, Redmond)

TEAM NEWS

Leicester will be without James Justin, Wes Morgan and Harvey Barnes for the semi-final but Caglar Soyuncu and Cengiz Ünder return.

James Madison, Ayoze Perez and Hamza Choudhury are available for Sunday’s contest after being dropped last weekend for breaking coronavirus restrictions.

There are no fresh injury woes for Ralph Hasenhüttl but Saints will be without Takumi Minamino who is cup-tied.

Hasenhüttl confirmed Michael Obafemi has returned to training, but it is too soon for him to feature in the starting XI.

Will Smallbone and Oriol Romeu remain sidelined with long-term injuries.

THE MANAGERS

Brendan Rodgers: "The importance of a game of this magnitude is clear. We want to arrive in the final, of course, but we can only do that by performing well.”

Ralph Hasenhüttl: “When we are hungry and when we know what we have to hunt for, then we are strong – and this is what I expect from my team at the weekend.”

ONES TO WATCH

Kelechi Iheanacho: Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Leicester’s Kelechi Iheanacho has scored more FA Cup goals than any other player (13), with the Nigerian scoring on average once every 78 minutes in the competition.

Fraser Forster: The Saints’ goalkeeper has had an impressive run so far in this year’s FA Cup, even earning himself a place as first choice goalkeeper in the league as a result.

Saints are yet to concede a single goal in this year's competion, with Forster making some vital saves on route. 

Fraser Forster

Goalkeeper stats

Clean sheets

4

Saves

9

Shots saved

100%

Saves per game

2

Mins per goal conceded

0

See all stats

TOP PERFORMERS

Inclusive of all competitions

Leicester:

Goals:
Vardy, Iheanacho 14
Harvey Barnes 13
James Maddison 11

Assists:
Vardy, Maddison 7
Marc Albrighton 6
Youri Tielemans 5

Southampton:

Goals:
Danny Ings 10
James Ward-Prowse 8
Ché Adams 7

Assists:
Ward-Prowse, Armstrong 5
Ings, Adams 4
Redmond, Walcott 3

It's an opportunity for us to make history.

kyle walker-peters
on fa cup prospects

HEAD TO HEAD

Played: 92
Leicester: 29
Draws: 29
Southampton: 34

DID YOU KNOW?

- Southampton have won their last two FA Cup meetings with Leicester, beating them 1-0 in January 2006 and 2-0 in January 2008.

- Southampton are yet to concede a goal in this season’s FA Cup – they could become the first team to reach the final of the competition without conceding since Everton did so in 1965-66.

- Southampton’s Nathan Redmond has been involved in seven goals in his last six FA Cup appearances, scoring five and assisting two.

KEEP UP TO DATE

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