Leicester vs. Southampton Predictions: James Maddison to star in a Foxes win

The curtains close on another exhaustingly exciting Premier League season on Sunday, a final day which promises thrills and spills at both ends of the table. Over at the King Power, Leicester City can still secure a top-8 finish which they’d definitely take given they were 14th as recently as two weeks ago. Meanwhile, the stuttering Saints can’t finish any higher than their current standing of 15th, but they can at least end on a high by treating their travelling support to a rare three points.

It’s a quick turnaround for Leicester City following Thursday’s creditable 1-1 draw away to Chelsea, which made it seven points from their last three games. It’s been a topsy-turvy season for The Foxes whose domestic form took a hit while they battled it out in Europe, yet they will be spurred on by the chance to jump above Wolves to seal a third consecutive top-8 finish. For this to happen they need to beat Southampton, and an out-of-form Wolves to fail to win away title-chasing Liverpool.

As for Southampton, they can’t wait for the season to be over. The Saints have struggled for a prolonged period of time now, scraping a solitary win from 11 matches stretching back to February. They may have taken a surprise lead against Liverpool on Tuesday, but they were completely outplayed by the Reds’ reserves who condemned Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men to their third defeat in a row. You feel like a summer of change is on the cards at St Mary’s, meaning a number of players could be playing for their futures on Sunday.

Leicester have been installed as the 10/11 favourites for the win, Southampton are 3/1 to claim a first triumph on the road since early February, while you can find odds of 31/10 for the points to be shared.

We’re snapping up the generous price of Leicester to win at 10/11 with Betfred. In truth, we’re surprised this isn’t a lot shorter.

Leicester have been involved in plenty of matches of late, yet we expect Brendan Rodgers to go strong as he looks to finish in the top-8. James Maddison has been in scintillating form while the return of James Vardy has been much welcome.

Leicester have enjoyed comprehensive recent wins at home to Norwich (3-0) and away at Watford (1-5), followed by a mid-week 1-1 draw at Chelsea, and we expect them to swat away the challenge of Southampton on Sunday.

After all, this is a confidence crushed Saints side who appeared to lose all interest some time ago. At one point they were bang in the mix for a top-10 finish, instead they’ve sunk to 15th following a run of lacklustre performances and disappointing defeats. 

Losing to Liverpool is nothing to be ashamed about, even if it was Jurgen Klopp’s second string, however the meek Saints offered little fight or mustered any sort of attacking intent after the 13th minute, ending the match with 28% possession and four shots to their opponent’s 24.

A surprise win against Arsenal remains Southampton’s only win in 11 matches. They’ve picked up one point from their last five games and haven’t tasted a win on the road in six games dating back to early February, meaning there’s little to suggest they can conclude the campaign with a rare win away to a side that still have something to play for.

James Maddison has got a real swagger about him right now. The Leicester midfielder is ending the season in fine goalscoring form, finding the back of the net in each of his last three matches against Norwich, Watford, and Chelsea, while he has a couple of assists from those games too. 

Maddison, who is now into double-figures for league goals this season (11), has accumulated 16 shots in his last six starts, eight of which have been on target. He’ll no doubt have high hopes of scoring another against a fragile Southampton backline which has one clean sheet in 13 league and cup games, while they’ve allowed their last two opponents a combined 42 shots.

We were tempted by Maddison in the anytime goalscorer market at a best-priced 2/1 with Betfred, however we’ve pieced together a nice little 7/2 double with bet365 which requires Leicester to win and Maddison to have over 1.5 shots on target.