Jamie Vardy s injury-time penalty against Southampton gave Leicester City a piece of Premier League history by sealing a 9-0 win at St Mary s.
Vardy and Ayoze Perez both scored hat-tricks in a triumph that equalled the previous best in the competition s history, while also representing the biggest top-flight win away from home in 131 years of league football in England.
Here, we look back at the matches that proved to be the stuff of wildest dreams or darkest nightmares for the teams on the respective sides of a yawning gulf in class.
Southampton 0-9 Leicester City – October 25, 2019
Ryan Bertrand was sent off for a challenge in the build-up to Ben Chilwell s 10th-minute opener but that was scant excuse for the manner in which Ralph Hasenhuttl s side unravelled. Youri Tielemans was granted ample room to double the lead, then Perez began romping towards a hat-trick he completed a minute before Vardy s headed second made it 7-0 in the 58th minute. A James Maddison free-kick and a Vardy penalty took this defeat in to uncharted territory for a home side.
9 Leicester have recorded the joint-biggest margin of victory in Premier League history, alongside Manchester United’s 9-0 win over Ipswich at Old Trafford in March 1995. Conquering.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Manchester United 9-0 Ipswich Town – March 4, 1995
No longer the outright worst after a quarter of a century out on their own, Ipswich s beleaguered XI from this Old Trafford outing might well raise a glass to Vardy and his colleagues. Andy Cole scored five after Roy Keane began the rout in the 15th minute. Former Southampton manager Mark Hughes hit a quickfire second-half double and Paul Ince also got in on the act. Peter Schmeichel watched it all unfold from the other end, just as his son Kasper did in goal for Leicester on Friday.
Tottenham 9-1 Wigan Athletic – November 22, 2009
Wigan had a slither of hope when Paul Scharner pulled a goal back to make it 3-1 before the hour at White Hart Lane. Ultimately, the only significance of that strike was to keep them off the top of this list. Jermain Defoe was the Cole of the piece, rattling in five goals from the 51st minute onwards, while Aaron Lennon, David Bentley and Nico Kranjcar piled on the pain. Remarkably, Peter Crouch s ninth-minute header was the only goal of the 10 scored before half-time.
That same season, Wigan lost 8-0 at Chelsea, who beat Aston Villa by the same margin at Stamford Bridge two years later. Newcastle United claimed the division s first 8-0 scoreline at the expense of Sheffield Wednesday in 1999.
9-1 beat Wigan 9-1 on this day in 2009 remain the only team to score 8 goals in one half of a Premier League match. Rout.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Southampton 8-0 Sunderland – October 18, 2014
The St Mary s faithful at least know what it feels like to be on the joyous end of what they endured against Leicester. The boot was on the other foot five years ago, although what exactly Sunderland defender Santiago Vergini and his boots were trying to achieve when he inexplicably walloped into his own net after 12 minutes remains anyone s guess. But that was 1-0 at that stage, with Graziano Pelle scoring the first of a brace six minutes later. Jack Cork, Dusan Tadic, Victor Wanyama and Sadio Mane also scored, with Liam Bridcutt joining Vergini in putting through his own goal.
Manchester City 8-0 Watford – September 21, 2019
United s outright record surprisingly remained intact despite their neighbours racing into a 5-0 lead inside 18 minutes against Watford last month. David Silva netted from close range inside a minute, with Riyad Mahrez winning a penalty for Sergio Aguero before scoring himself. Bernardo Silva opened his tally on the way to a hat-trick, with Nicolas Otamendi a more unlikely first-half goalscorer. Kevin De Bruyne masterfully orchestrated the destruction of a side City demolished 6-0 in May s FA Cup final and wrapped up the scoring with an emphatic strike into the top corner.
When love and eight collide
— Manchester City (@ManCity)
Nottingham Forest 1 Manchester United 8 – February 6, 1999
The biggest away win the Premier League had seen until Leicester went about their savagery. This seemed fairly standard stuff for Alex Ferguson s majestic treble-winning side as Dwight Yorke and Cole scored twice against an overmatched Forest, who would finish the season bottom of the table. Standard, that was, until Ole Gunnar Solskjaer emerged from the bench and pilfered four goals in the final 10 minutes at the City Ground.
