CHE Adams struck a spectacular brace from the bench to see Saints come from behind at Leicester City for their first win of the Premier League campaign.

James Maddison had given the hosts the lead early in the second-half with a direct free-kick that could have been dealt with better, but the Scottish international hit back late to seal a 2-1 win.

Adams had been introduced from the substitutes bench with his side trailing after 59 minutes, scoring in the 68th and 84th minute – in a month shrouded with rumours of his future.

Ralph Hasenhuttl named five of his six summer signings all from the off in the youngest starting XI from any team in the Premier League since 2017.

With that came a change to the four-man defence for the first time, Jan Bednarek – who is subject to interest from Aston Villa – dropped to the bench.

Joe Aribo, Sekou Mara and Adam Armstrong all made individual impacts during the comeback 2-2 draw with Leeds United and were rewarded with a starting chance.

Che Adams was not dropped on form, but has been missing from training until Thursday and deemed not ready for 90 minutes by the Saints staff.

Hasenhuttl had set his charges up in another brand-new formation, this time operating a 4-3-3, and it took a bit of getting used to.

Armel Bella-Kotchap survived a couple potential fouls in and around the box as Leicester looked dangerous, Mohammed Salisu defending admirably surrounded by chaos to keep them at bay.

Inside 20 minutes, after a lot of gesturing and pointing, Hasenhuttl called Moi Elyounoussi over to swap his central-midfield role with right-wing Aribo - and then more positional changes continued throughout the half.

Despite Leicester’s dominance, it was Saints who had the ball in the net first – Mara racing through and finishing open-body across the keeper for his first Premier League goal.

Or so at least he thought; it was clear he was offside for the several seconds play was allowed to continue before the flag eventually went up, as per modern linesman guidelines.

By the end of the half, the home side had finished with 70 per cent possession of the ball but – to be fair – limited clear cut chances after Hasenhuttl’s tweaks.

However, any good work was undone from a set-piece by Maddison again within 10 minutes of the restart.

Gavin Bazunu did not have his wall set up to perfection with space allowed, from around 20 yards, to go around the defenders and into the Irishman’s near-post, sending the hosts ahead.

Hasenhuttl responded by sending Adams on for Mara and immediately the Scot held up play with back-to-goal to create the visitors’ best chance of the afternoon.

The promising response continued and Adams pulled Saints level with over 20 to play, driving into Danny Ward’s goal after Bella-Kotchap had laid off Salisu’s long-throw in the area.

Saints applied heavy pressure in search of a goal to go ahead, Leicester surviving by the skin of their teeth with desperate clearances, wayward shots and unsuccessful VAR claims.

Not forever. Adams rose highest to acrobatically scissor kick an expert James Ward-Prowse delivery from close-range and give Saints the lead inside the final six minutes of the contest.

Leicester: Ward; Justin, Amartey, Evans, Castagne; Ndidi, Maddison, Dewsbury-Hall; Perez (Tielemans, 64), Barnes (Iheanacho, 76), Vardy (Daka, 64).

Unused subs: Soyuncu, Thomas, Mendy, Praet, Albrighton, Iheanacho, Iversen (g/k).

Booked: Daka, Maddison.

Saints: Bazunu; Walker-Peters, Bella-Kotchap, Salisu, Djenepo; Lavia, Ward-Prowse, Elyounoussi; Aribo (Lyanco, 87), A Armstrong (S Armstrong, 70), Mara (Adams, 58).

Unused subs: Valery, Lyanco, Bednarek, Diallo, Romeu, Walcott, McCarthy (g/k).

Booked: Elyounoussi, Aribo, Lavia.

Referee: Michael Salisbury.

VAR: Michael Oliver.