Leicester City moved a step closer to winning the Premier League after beating Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
Jamie Vardy’s second-half brace – the striker’s first league goals since February 14, seven matches ago – proved to be the difference between the two teams.
As a result, Claudio Ranieri’s side moved 10 points clear of second-placed Tottenham Hotspur, but the gap was brought back to seven as Spurs beat Manchester United 3-0.
Sunderland remain deep in trouble in the relegation zone, though, four points from Norwich City and safety, albeit with a match in hand on the Canaries.
Both managers opted to go with the same line-ups from last weekend, meaning Sam Allardyce keeping faith with midfielder Lee Catermole ahead of Jack Rodwell, who was on the bench for Sunderland.
Leicester captain Wes Morgan, a rock at the back in recent weeks to help his side keep four consecutive Premier League sheets, had the first chance of the contest.
N’Golo Kante takes on Jermain Defoe during Sunday’s match
However, unlike against Southampton last weekend, the centre-back could not direct his header from Christian Fuchs’ early left-wing corner on target.
The visitors also thought they should have had a penalty midway through the first half when Sunderland right-back DeAndre Yedlin caught Shinji Okazaki with a high boot in the box, only for referee Anthony Taylor to disagree with the striker’s appeal.
The Black Cats had their own penalty claims after Robert Huth handled a Patrick van Aanholt pull back as half-time approached, but the man in the middle deemed it accidental.
And it was Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel who was the first to be called into action in injury time at the end of the first period, with the Dane doing well to keep out Fabio Borini’s shot from outside the box, especially as it took a wicked deflection en route to goal.
The Foxes then soaked up all that their opponents could throw at them after the break, before striking twice through Vardy in the final quarter of the game.
Leicester’s opening goal came about from Danny Drinkwater’s lovely weighted ball over the top which picked out Vardy’s clever run into the channel, with the England international finishing unerringly past Vito Mannone from an acute angle.
That crucial strike was Vardy’s 20th league goal of the campaign, making him the first Leicester player to reach that total in the top fight since Gary Lineker in 1984/85.
The Black Cats then huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser, with their best chance falling to Rodwell eight minutes from time.
However, after van Aanholt’s shot from the edge of the area deflected kindly into his path off Jermain Defoe, the midfielder blazed horribly over the bar with just Schmeichel to beat.
Jamie Vardy of Leicester City scores his second goal
Leicester then sealed their win in second-half injury time after another breakaway goal as substitute Daniel Amartey fed Vardy just inside Sunderland’s half and after outpacing van Aanholt, the frontman rounded the advancing Mannone before shooting into an empty net.
And Ranieri and Co – who have now recorded five successive top-flight clean sheets – need just three more victories from their remaining five league games to be assured of a first-ever Premier League title.
Manchester United’s defeat by Tottenham later on Super Sunday secured a top-four finish for Leicester, though Champions League football cannot be guaranteed just yet as the fourth-place Premier League team will drop into the Europa League if Manchester City and Liverpool are victorious in Europe and both finish outside of the top four.
Player ratings
Sunderland: Mannone (7), Yedlin (7), Kaboul (7), Kone (6), Van Aanholt (7), Kirchhoff (7), Cattermole (6), M’Vila (6), Khazri (5), Borini (6), Defoe (6)
Used subs: Rodwell (6), N’Doye (6), Lens (6)
Leicester City: Schmeichel (8) Simpson (7), Morgan (8), Huth (8), Fuchs (8), Mahrez (6), Kante (9), Drinkwater (8), Albrighton (8), Okazaki (7), Vardy (8)
Used subs: Amartey, (8) Gray, (8) Ulloa (7)
Man of the match: N’Golo Kante
Source: Skysports
