The nine places separating the two sides will count for nothing at the King Power Stadium where Leicester will look to climb to safety and Southampton will aim to stay on track for Europe.
Where Saints were the form-team early in the season, the Foxes are on a red-hot streak. Fifteen points from a possible 18 has lifted them out of the bottom three to 16th in the league.
"They have won five out of the last six so we expect a very tough game and we need to be prepared for that," Saints skipper Jose Fonte said. "I'm expecting pretty much the same attitude as Sunderland had against us from Leicester on Saturday.
"Sunderland were at it and that's something we need to match at least, if not have more than them."
Intensity aside, Saints will have to radically up their game, boss Ronald Koeman told reporters.
"We have top come back to our level, because we played very poor football last week.
"It is a difficult opponent, Leicester... full of confidence.
"In the last part of the season you know everyone is fighting for something and you need to be 100 percent," he added, conceding that Southampton had been poor keeping possession last time out.
"That's not about spirit and motivation, it's (about) quality and we lost so many balls in our midfield position," he said. "That gave Sunderland a lot of spirit and confidence. You can't play like that against Leicester."
James Ward-Prowse, sent off last week, will miss the game through suspension, while Dusan Tadic and Morgan Schneiderlin are out injured.
There is a chink of light regarding Frenchman Schneiderlin, though. Having said the midfielder would miss the rest of the season, Koeman on Thursday said he may now be able to feature in Southampton's final two games.
Southampton are seventh in the league, a point behind sixth-placed Tottenham with three matches remaining. If Arsenal win their FA Cup final against Aston Villa, seventh will be enough to secure a Europa League spot next season.
(Writing by Ossian Shine; editing by Justin Palmer)
Share
