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Taylor Harwood-Bellis scored twice with towering headers and Fin Azaz netted too in a first half full of incident, with Olabade Aluko also sent off for two yellow card offences.

There was some dispute over Harwood-Bellis's first goal as he appeared to be offside when Ryan Manning delivered the free-kick that he headed home. But with video assistant referee (VAR) technology still yet to be introduced to EFL fixtures, the Foxes had no avenue for complaint.

The win moved Southampton above the Foxes into 11th place on the table, with Leicester equal on 24 points but stuck in 13th on goal difference.

Also on 24 points is 12th-placed Watford, which came from a goal down to beat Preston North End in the match at Vicarage Road.

But for Southampton, another win was just the tonic as it looks to make progress after a disappointing start to life back in the secod tier of English football.

"I'm very pleased, we knew that we needed to invest a lot today for a clean sheet because obviously there's a lot of quality on the other side of the pitch and we managed that quite well," Eckart said after the match at St Mary's.

"I think there was one situation early on in the game after a corner when the ball dropped inside the box and I feel that was the only real moment that they had inside the box and being able to say that over 90 minutes I think is a compliment to the boys."

With no obvious successor having been found to manage the Saints since the sacking of Will Still, Eckert could well be in the running to take the job permanently having been so impressive since taking the reins.

"I'm happy to go on, to go into another game on Saturday [Sunday AEDT]," he said when asked about his position at the club.

"It's going to be a big challenge coming up [away at ninth-placed Millwall] and we need to make sure that we carry on the momentum.

"I want to go to Millwall and win another game. That's what it is about. I don't look too far ahead. It's a big game coming and that's all I focus on."

For Leicester, which came into this match off two straight wins and a draw, it was a disappointing first half that ruined any chance of a positive result.

"The first goal had too much impact," Leicester boss Marti Cifuentes said. "It doesn't matter that it's a clear offside, we didn't react well after that.

"I am disappointed because it is not what we wanted to offer to our fans. It's not easy to come here, it's a long trip. We wanted to give them something else, in terms of the performance and points.

"We're going to try again on Saturday [against Sheffield United]. There is no hiding when you have such a performance, you need to look at yourself, be very critical, and analyse what went wrong."