Southampton battled to a 1-1 draw against Leicester City on Friday night despite Jannik Vestergaard’s early red card, with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side more than deserving of a point against the Foxes.
There were plenty of impressive performances from the Saints at St Mary’s, particularly from a defensive point of view, as they restricted Leicester to very few chances after going down to 10 men.
One man who impressed with his performance was Mohammed Salisu, as he replaced Nathan Tella after the sending off and was superb at the back throughout.
As per SofaScore, the defender earned an impressive 7.3/10 rating for his display, with only James Ward-Prowse (7.4) and Alex McCarthy rated higher (7.8) of the Southampton players who featured.
The 22-year-old had limited opportunities earlier in the season due to injury and fitness issues but has established himself as a regular in Hasenhuttl’s side in recent weeks.
Of the 11 appearances he has made for Southampton in all competitions this season, this was comfortably his best performance, with WhoScored rating him a 7.43/10 against Brendan Rodgers’ side.
It is seemingly a common consensus that the young centre-back, who joined from Real Valladolid in the summer, had an excellent game as Hampshire Live journalist Tom Leach also sang the 22-year-old’s praises in his match ratings for the game, saying: “He was heroic tonight. He steps up explosively, getting out and to the ball with unrivaled enthusiasm. He is a monster in one-on-one situations and is, in all honesty, one of the fastest defenders ever to wear Southampton colours.”
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During the game, the £9m-rated Salisu made 11 clearances, two interceptions and two tackles, which is even more impressive when you consider he has averaged 2.9 clearances, 2.8 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per game in the Premier League this season.
It was an excellent defensive display from the Ghanaian, as he also won five of his eight duels during the game and wasn’t dribbled past once, despite the threat of Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho in Leicester’s attack.
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Therefore, with Vestergaard now set to be suspended, Hasenhuttl will surely be delighted that Salisu did so well as a substitute, and it would not be a surprise to see him start alongside Jan Bednarek against Liverpool next weekend.
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