Ruud van Nistelrooy savoured "a day to enjoy" after Leicester City ended their nine-game losing streak on home soil with victory over Southampton.

The Foxes came out on top in the battle of the relegated sides at the King Power Stadium, with first-half goals from Jamie Vardy and Jordan Ayew sealing a 2-0 win.

Vardy opened the scoring in the 17th minute with his 199th goal for Leicester, who he will leave at the end of the season, and their first on home soil in 826 minutes.

Indeed, the Foxes had gone an English top-flight record of nine successive home league matches without scoring, while Ayew secured all three points just before the break.

And 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 later 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 continued. "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 they will finish bottom of the Premier League for a joint-record third time in their history (level with Sunderland), also doing so in 2004-05 and 2022-23.

The Saints' aim will now be to register a point in their last three games to avoid matching Derby County's record-low tally of 11 points in 2007-08.

"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."