Leicester City have opened up a 10-point gap at the top of the Premier League table courtesy of a 2-0 victory over relegation-threatened Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
Jamie Vardy ended a six-game goal drought to score twice and hand his side their fifth consecutive victory to move within three wins of the Premier League title.
The Claudio Ranieri’s side continued to ask the main questions, and they felt that they should have had a penalty midway through the first half when Shinji Okazaki went down under the challenge of DeAndre Yedlin.
Sunderland had to wait until 10 minutes before half time for their first sight of goal, and it fell to Younes Kaboul as he rose highest in the penalty area to power a header over the crossbar.
Vardy had a half-chance towards the end of the half when he mis-hit an attempted volley from Okazaki’s cross, before Riyad Mahrez saw a third penalty appeal rejected when he claimed for a handball against Kaboul.
Sunderland made a positive start to the second half too, but Borini squandered two early chances when he first scuffed an effort wide from the edge of the box before blasting a second shot off target when he should have done better.
Half-chances were the best either side were creating, though, and that was the same for Leicester when Okazaki lashed one over the crossbar after combining with Kante.
Danny Drinkwater looked like having a clear opening moments later when he latched on to Vardy’s clipped pass over the top to bear down on goal, but Yedlin got back to put pressure on the midfielder as Mannone came out to smother the ball.
Drinkwater proved to be the provider when Leicester finally got the breakthrough, though, as he pinged a long pass over the top for Vardy, who cut inside before calmly slotting his finish past Mannone.
The hosts went straight up the other end and created a clear opening of their own when Van Aanholt picked out Borini in space inside the box, but the Italian somehow only managed to hit the ball into his own face when looking to apply the finish.
Sunderland risked being caught on the break as they went in search of a goal that would keep survival in their own hands, and they should have got it with just eight minutes remaining when the ball broke to Jack Rodwell in a glorious position, only for the midfielder to lift his shot over the crossbar when it looked easier to score.
The Sunderland keeper kept his side hanging on with another big save to deny Daniel Amartey late on, but it was to prove in vain as Vardy doubled his personally tally in the final minute of stoppage time, beating the last defender before taking the ball past Mannone and slotting it into the empty net.
The goal sealed a fifth consecutive top-flight win for Leicester for the first time since 1963-64, and also saw them equal the club record for number of victories recorded in a single campaign (21).
Sunderland, meanwhile, remain four points adrift of safety but do have a game in hand over 17th-placed Norwich City ahead of next weekend’s relegation crunch match against the Canaries.
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