Rodgers proud of 'ruthless' Leicester's record-breaking win against Southampton

Brendan Rodgers praised the ruthless nature of his Leicester team's performance as they emphatically recorded a 9-0 away win at Southampton on Friday night.

The Foxes led 5-0 at half-time, having faced 10 men since the 12th minute when Ryan Bertrand was sent off, but they didn't let up after the break as Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez completed trebles.

The result moves Leicester up to second place in the Premier League and within five points of leaders Liverpool ahead of their game against Spurs on Sunday.

It was a record-breaking night as Rodgers' team recorded the biggest win by an away side in Football League history, while matching Manchester United's 9-0 win over Ipswich in 1995.

"I was very pleased with our work rate. We scored some great goals and were very hungry tonight," Rodgers told the BBC.

"I'm very pleased with how we defended and how ruthless we were. I'm very proud to stand and be the manager of that team.

"We wanted to get the ball back quickly and attack again. A mark of good sides is you don't let up and we certainly did that in the second half.

"We were ruthlessly simple in our game. When you're so many goals up, you can easily slow and lose focus. To be a top team you must be clinical."

Ben Chilwell put the Foxes ahead shortly before Bertrand's red card, as Youri Tielemans and Perez had the away side leading 3-0 before the 20th minute.

There wa a brief respite for 20 minutes before Perez and Vardy struck to make it five at the interval.

Perez hat-trick strike came in the 57th minute, while Vardy added his second and James Maddison got the Foxes seventh goal with five to play.

Vardy got his hat-trick from the penalty spot in stoppage time to seal the record-breaking victory and become the top scorer in the Premier League.

After a trip to Burton Albion on Tuesday for the Carabao Cup, Leicester City travel to Crystal Palace on Sunday as they continue to put pressure on title favourites Liverpool and Manchester City.