Nigel Pearson is hoping to put Saints to the sword to save Leicester seven years after his great escape at St Mary’s condemned the Foxes to relegation.

Pearson was appointed Saints boss in February 2008 and famously led the club to Championship survival in an incredible final day win over Sheffield United, meaning Leicester suffered the drop to the third tier of English football.

After being axed by Saints that summer he took over at the Foxes and is now in his second spell at the club and fighting to ensure their Premier League relegation battle ends in success.

A remarkable run of five wins in their last six matches has seen those hopes grow significantly and their latest challenge comes on Saturday when they welcome Saints to the King Power Stadium.

After their incredible recent form, Leicester midfielder Marc Albrighton has warned Saints they are going to have a battle on their hands from the first whistle.

"The table looks a lot better than it did about a month ago," said Albrighton. "There is still work to be done and you don't want to speak too soon but it is going well so far.

"Southampton have proven they are a great footballing side and have done really well this year. It is going to be a difficult game for us but if we play anything like that and start like that then they are not going to enjoy coming here.

"Confidence is sky high and teams aren't going to want to be coming here. We proved against Swansea, Chelsea and now Newcastle that we start so fast we seem to catch teams off guard. It gives us a foothold in the game.

"The way we have started has let us play with freedom. It has been brilliant so far but we need to finish off the job."

For Saints the game is a chance to get back on track in their battle for Europa League football after a disappointing performance led to a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland.

While Leicester are flying high in the form table, third over the last six matches, Saints have struggled a little more and find themselves 15th, partly due to the fact they have lost four of their last five away from home. Tottenham are still well in sight though in sixth place if they can get things going again.

To do that though they need to get the better of their former boss, who has managed to galvanise his side, even with his rant to the media which hit the headlines.

"We had heard about the comments and we have seen what has been going on, but we ignored that and just concentrated on the bigger picture, which was the Newcastle game and getting the three points," said Leicester defender Wes Morgan "What goes on around us is out of our control. It is nothing to do with us and we just focus on our jobs.

"He takes it on himself to take the spotlight off us and put it on himself. That is great for us so we can focus on our jobs.

"It is down to the manager how he approaches the media.

"It is nothing to do with us, as long as we do our jobs it's all fine."