Southampton produced an outstanding second-half comeback from three goals down to secure a 4-3 win against Leicester and deny interim Foxes boss Andy King his first victory.

Leicester were five without a win in the Championship going into the rearranged midweek fixture and just outside the relegation zone on goal difference following their six-point deduction earlier this month, but goals from Divine Mukasa, Patson Daka and Abdul Fatawu saw King's side race into a three-goal lead inside half an hour.

Ross Stewart was introduced at half-time for a shellshocked Southampton and the Scot put the visitors on the scoresheet after 61 minutes before captain Jack Stephens' goal eight minutes from time set up a frantic finish.

Ryan Manning equalised with four minutes remaining before Shea Charles struck six minutes into time added on to stun the King Power Stadium and give Southampton's play-off hopes a boost.

Both sides traded early chances with Southampton's Cameron Archer blasting over from six yards before Leicester striker Daka curled an effort just over the bar.

The home side went ahead after nine minutes when Daka rolled the ball into the path of Mukasa just outside the box and the Manchester City loanee's low effort into the bottom corner was too powerful for Daniel Peretz in the Southampton goal.

It was exactly the start interim boss King would have wanted from his Foxes side and it got even better for them just four minutes later.

Saints midfielder Tom Fellows undercooked his passback under pressure from Stephy Mavididi and Daka was alive to the opportunity, rounding Peretz and slotting the ball through the legs of Welington on the line to double Leicester's lead.

Southampton thought they had one back after 21 minutes when Taylor Harwood-Bellis got on the end of a Leo Scienza delivery but his header was tipped around the post by Asmir Begovic.

Leicester must have thought the game was out of sight after half an hour when Mukasa picked out Fatawu on the right-hand side, with the winger advancing on goal before thundering an effort to the inside of Peretz's near post to make it 3-0.

Southampton made three changes at half-time in a bid to find a way back into the game with Caspar Jander, Fellows and Archer making way for Charles, Kuryu Matsuki and Stewart and it was to be an inspired decision from Saints boss Tonda Eckert.

Stewart got his side back into the game just after the hour mark, getting on the end of Scienza's delivery to deftly flick the ball into the net.

Leicester could have restored their three-goal cushion almost instantly with Daka latching on to a long ball over the top before lofting an effort over the onrushing Peretz but he could not direct the ball goalwards.

The late drama was yet to come, however. Southampton got another goal back when Begovic could only parry Manning's header down into the path of Stephens who lashed the ball into the net with eight minutes remaining.

Manning turned goalscorer just minutes later when Scienza's corner drifted through a ruck of bodies in the Leicester box and the swooping Irishman's header found the bottom corner.

The momentum was all with the away side at this point and the moment Leicester fans had been dreading since the hour mark arrived in the 96th minute when Charles played a neat one-two with Stewart before curling an outstanding effort past Begovic.

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert told BBC Radio Solent:

"It is tough to find the right words for this game today. It was the decision of the boys at half-time.

"You can say whatever you want to say, in the end it is their decision to have a proper go and I would say that we did in the second half.

"We need to enjoy this. The season is so long and you don't have many nights like this so today we need to enjoy it and from tomorrow we will keep going.

"Allow me today not to look to far ahead. I think it is just one of those nights which is very special and we will try to enjoy it for the moment and what comes in the league against Charlton will come.

"We will be well prepared, hopefully play a different first half and continue the second half like we did here but for tonight it's just a moment to enjoy."

Leicester caretaker manager Andy King told BBC Radio Leicester:

"I want to start by apologising for that last half an hour. It was completely unacceptable.

"Obviously, the feeling I have at the moment is sheer anger towards the performance. It will take a bit of time to process, I have to watch it back, see what happened but, yeah, passive and not good enough.

"Probably a lack of character, a lack of leadership, stuff we have said about before and it has been almost a pattern throughout the season where you do some good bits in good spells and then we almost have a spell of the game where we just go under.

"Like I say, I'm angry at the moment so I don't want to speak out of turn. I need to watch it back, I need to properly analyse it, I need a bit of time to reflect on it. Like I said, I fully apologise for it but that's all I'm sat with at the moment.

"You've seen today, probably, our season in a nutshell. You've seen some brilliant football, some goals, some really good stuff and then some stuff which is unacceptable and we have seen both sides of that today.

"Come out of another loss, some good stuff, but second half, last half an hour, from my point of view, like I keep saying, apologies. Completely unacceptable."