CHARLY Alcaraz lifted Saints from the bottom of the Premier League and put them just one point away from safety in a 1-0 win against Leicester City.

The Argentinian midfielder inspired a life-line in the relegation battle and secured all three points with a composed one-on-one finish that landed right in the bottom far corner.

Saints kept their first clean sheet at home all season, and are now tied on points with Everton and Bournemouth in the bottom three with 13 games left to play in the campaign.

The home side had not won a point at St Mary’s since October, and took advantage of a Leicester side who had not scored first in seven straight games.

After making nine changes in the loss to Grimsby Town, Ruben Selles swapped out four from his Leeds line-up - with Alcaraz, Che Adams, Theo Walcott and Kyle Walker-Peters coming in.

Captain James Ward-Prowse reclaimed his armband and starting spot, overtaking Jason Dodd to break Saints’ Premier League appearance record with 330 games played.

With West Ham and Bournemouth losing earlier in the day, there was uncertainty around St Mary’s at kick-off - the cautiousness of the players embodying the nervousness of the fans.

Leicester started with a spark as Ricardo Pereira had two poor chances that should’ve punished Saints’ wasteful clearances, and James Maddison produced the first big opportunity with a free-kick headed wide by Iheanacho.

Walcott and Maitland-Niles were Saints’ pressure valve down the right-hand side though, and a low cross from the former was blocked by Timothy Castagne’s hand to bring a penalty against the run of play.

Ward-Prowse - who had scored 16 penalties in 21 prior to the game - stepped up and sent it left, but Danny Ward picked the right way and cleared the ball with a strong two-handed save.

Just moments later in the 35th minute, Adams used his body to hold up the ball and threaded through a heavy pass to put Alcaraz one-on-one with the keeper.

The midfielder, who had made runs in behind all half, ran into the box and rolled it past a fully-stretched Ward - a collected finish which secured him his second Premier League goal and won Saints the half 1-0.

Gavin Bazunu gave Leicester a chance in the 66th minute, as his misplaced pass went straight to Iheanacho, who struck the ball narrowly over the bar.

Substitute Sekou Mara and Kamaldeen Sulemana worked together to give Adam Armstrong the ball on the penalty spot, but the striker miskicked the ball and skied a chance begging to be put away.

Despite having strong counter-attacks Saints couldn’t put Leicester away, and the Foxes relentlessly pressed for an equaliser in the last ten minutes.

Iheanacho had the best share of the chances, but couldn’t get any of his five shots on target, and Leicester hit the bar right before the final whistle through Harry Souttar to almost flip the script. 

Saints: Bazunu; Maitland-Niles, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Walker-Peters; Lavia, Alcaraz (Elyounoussi, 49), Ward-Prowse; Walcott (A Armstrong, 62), Kamaldeen (S Armstrong, 80), Adams (Mara, 62)

Unused subs: Caballero (g/k), Salisu, Perraud, Djenepo, Onuachu

Booked: Alcaraz, Adams, A Armstrong, Ward-Prowse

Leicester: Ward; Ricardo, Souttar, Faes, Castagne; Dewsbury-Hall, Mendy (Ndidi, 68); Maddison, Tete (Vardy, 68), Barnes (Praet, h-t); Iheanacho

Unused subs: Iversen (g/k), Amartey, Thomas, Söyüncü, Soumaré, Daka

Booked: Barnes, Maddison

Referee: Robert Jones

VAR: Tony Harrington