Southampton draw does little to dispel drop fears

LEICESTER, England (AP) - Southampton snapped a four-match losing run with a 0-0 draw at Leicester on Thursday but the result did little to ease the club's Premier League relegation fears.

Mark Hughes' team is four points adrift of fourth from bottom Swansea, which has played one game fewer, and five behind next best Crystal Palace.

"We will have to wait for the rest of the season to see if that's a significant point one way or the other," Hughes said.

"We are going to get to a point where we are just going to have to throw everything at it ... we are going to have to take more risks in the games coming up and that's where we find ourselves, unfortunately."

The draw halted back-to-back losses for Leicester, which remained eighth.

Leicester threatened twice inside the opening quarter hour. Riyad Mahrez, Kelechi Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy moved the ball quickly on the edge of the penalty area before Mahrez's low shot was smothered by goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.

Some more lovely one-touch football then saw Iheanacho curl an effort narrowly wide, with McCarthy rooted to the spot.

Southampton's first opening came when Dusan Tadic's half-volley flew past the post.

The visitors should have done better with two chances late in the first half.

Cedric Soares missed the target with a volley from Shane Long's far-post cross before Long failed to make the most of a potential two-on-one opportunity, misplacing his pass to Tadic.

Long went even closer in the second half with a swivelling effort which was blocked at point-blank range by Ben Hamer, who was standing in for the injured Kasper Schmeichel in goal.

Leicester then almost scored when McCarthy did well to fingertip Vardy's volley over the crossbar.

"The players gave their best and we are disappointed not to win," manager Claude Puel said. "The performance was good with lots of good chances and good play on the floor, good tempo."