Leicester had also gone nine home league matches without a goal, the longest run in English top-flight history, with fans at King Power Stadium having nothing to celebrate since a 2-2 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion last December.

But Vardy ended the drought in the 17th minute with his 199th goal for the Foxes, whom he will leave at the end of the campaign.

Bilal El Khannouss played a give-and-go with Luke Thomas before crossing for Vardy, who finished emphatically into the roof of the net.

The contest was then halted for more than 10 minutes as referee David Webb, who was overseeing his first Premier League game, was injured in a bizarre collision with Ayew and replaced by Sam Barrott, with Vardy stopping the match by blowing the stricken official's whistle.

But on the stroke of 12 minutes of stoppage-time, Ayew was involved in a more positive manner, drilling into the bottom-left corner on the rebound after his free-kick hit the wall.

The closest Southampton came to a response was when Mateus Fernandes had a close-range finish disallowed for offside, with this defeat ensuring they will finish bottom, becoming just the second club to do so three times in the Premier League, after Sunderland.

Leicester moved to 21 points from 35 games, but remains still second-bottom on the table, one point behind Ipswich Town after its 2-2 draw with Everton.

Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy was pleased to experience a day of "lots of positives", on which teenagers Michael Golding, Jake Evans and Jeremy Monga were introduced from the bench late on.

"It's good to feel this again," Van Nistelrooy said. "We knew the amount of home games in which we didn't score or win. We wanted to break that cycle, and it was clear it had to be today.

"The one to break that cycle obviously had to be Jamie with a great left-foot finish.

"Lots of positives with the result, the clean sheet, the young lads coming on. It's a day to enjoy and that's what we're doing."

"Football is all about confidence," Bilal El Khannouss said. "From the moment you score, we have good players in this team, the confidence can go higher and we showed ourselves.

"[We want] to end [the season] in a positive way, to take as many points as possible, and to prepare for next season."

On Vardy, he added: "Today, he scored one, and I will help him to the end [of the season] to score another one. He's a legend for the club."

Meanwhile, another defeat for Southampton ensured it will finish bottom of the Premier League for a joint-record third time in its history, level with Sunderland, which did so inin 2004-2005 and 2022-2023.

The Saints' aim will now be to register a point in their final three games to avoid matching Derby County's record-low tally of 11 points in 2007-2008.

"We started well in the game, and we were disappointed with the fashion of the [first] goal," interim boss Simon Rusk said. "It gave them life and, in the end, they were worthy of the win.

"We're bottom of the league, and it's been a really difficult season. We're lacking confidence and there's only so much you can do for confidence really.

"We have to keep going. We didn't give up. We're hoping for that one goal that gets us back in it, but it never came.

"I have inherited seven games in difficult circumstances, and I can only take it one game at a time. Hopefully, we pick something up in these last three games."