Sunderland 0 - 0 Leicester

by Roger Domeneghetti
at the Stadium of Light

LEICESTER CITY secured their position in the Premier League for another season with a point in this nervy, hard-fought draw against Sunderland.

It has been a remarkable escape for a team that was rooted to the bottom of the table, seven points adrift of safety at the end of March. It had been little more than a month after their manager Nigel Pearson was rumoured to have been sacked then reinstated that their rich vein of form began. They went on to win six of their next eight, losing only to Chelsea. Their performance against Sunderland was probably the worst in that time but the result the most important.

“I’m not going to flower over it,” said Pearson, “I was relieved. At the final whistle I thought ‘Thank God for that’. Let’s face it, there’ve been low points this season. It’s difficult for newly promoted sides to establish themselves in the Premier League but this run has been singular. The important thing now is to enjoy the moment.”

The spectre of relegation still haunts Sunderland, but this point edges them closer to £14,500safety given the defeats of Hull and Newcastle and the fact the Black Cats still have two games to play.

“We’ll know next week,” said the Black Cats’ boss Dick Advocaat when asked whether this was a good or bad point. “But if you’d said before last week that we’d get four points from two games, we’d be very happy and at the end, I can’t complain about the team, they worked very, very hard.”

Those two crucial games are both away, against Arsenal and Chelsea, but Advocaat is hopeful that his side can get the point they need. “We still have everything in our own hands. Why is it not possible to get a point? I have a good feeling about that.”