Che Adams strikes twice as Southampton hit back to deepen Leicester’s troubles

As second-half introductions go, Che Adams’s could not have gone much better, only the woodwork preventing the striker from a hat-trick as Southampton secured a comeback victory and their first of the season.

His arrival proved an inspired substitution by Ralph Hasenhüttl. The Southampton striker stepped off the bench on the hour equalising soon afterwards, before an acrobatic scissors-kick earned the Saints their first victory of the season.

For Leicester, who were roundly booed off, it was a familiar foe that saw them come unstuck, as Adams profited from slack defending at a long throw to cancel out James Maddison’s curled free-kick. Leicester conceded a league-high 19 goals from set plays last season. But Adams’s winner was a beauty as he volleyed home James Ward-Prowse’s first-time cross.

This was a drab game until Maddison curled a free-kick round the Southampton wall and past Gavin Bazunu, Southampton’s new first-choice goalkeeper. Harvey Barnes returned on the left flank following injury and Jamie Vardy led the Leicester line after signing a two-year contract extension.

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Instead much of the focus centred on Wesley Fofana, who was not on the pitch but in the stands amid Chelsea’s continued pursuit of the defender. Fofana happily posed for photos and autographs, and applauded as Maddison’s artistry helped Leicester take the lead.

Leicester’s only signing this summer is the goalkeeper Alex Smithies, brought in as backup to Danny Ward, but Southampton named four new recruits, all of whom are 20 or younger, in their starting lineup.

That quartet included Sekou Mara, who curled the ball into the net on 26 minutes only for the