Leicester's Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring his side's ninth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Southampton and Leicester City at St Mary's stadium in Southampton, England Friday, Oct., 25.The Associated Press
Leicester scored five first-half goals and another four after the break to destroy 10-man Southampton 9-0 on Friday and tie the biggest win in Premier League history.
Manchester United beat Ipswich by the same score in 1995, three years after the English top tier was rebranded.
Brendan Rodgers’s Leicester moved second in the league as Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy both scored hat tricks at a wet St. Mary’s stadium.
Ryan Bertrand became the first Premier League player to receive a red card after a VAR review for an incident in the buildup to the first goal in the 10th minute.
Leicester trails Liverpool by five points, and is ahead of third-place Manchester City by one point. Man City hosts Aston Villa on Saturday, and Liverpool hosts Tottenham in the 10th round’s standout game on Sunday.
Ben Chilwell scored only his second goal for Leicester with a tight-angled left-footed shot to put the visitors ahead. Southampton quickly received another blow when Bertrand was ejected on review for stretching over the top of the ball and his studs making contact with Perez’s shin before the goal.
It got worse for the hosts – and goalkeeper Angus Gunn – when Leicester broke down the left to make it 2-0 in the 17th minute with Youri Tielemans given time to score.
Tielemans then set up Perez who made it 3-0 inside 20 minutes with his first goal for Leicester.
Chilwell’s cross picked out Perez whose impressive strike put the visitors 4-0 ahead in the 39th, and Vardy had time to add a fifth before the break with Southampton jeered off the field.
Perez got his hat trick in the 57th and Vardy triggered an exodus of Saints fans with his second goal a minute later for 7-0. James Maddison curled in a free kick for the eighth goal with five minutes to go, and Vardy scored from the penalty spot right at the end for his hat trick.
Southampton, which was unchanged like Leicester, dropped into the relegation zone behind 17th-place Newcastle on goal difference. The Saints haven’t won at home since April.