What a remarkable turnaround it has been for Leicester City to stay in the Premier League

The Premier League club's 0-0 draw against Sunderland might not have been the prettiest or most memorable of the eight games in a remarkable run that has yielded 19 points, but it got the job done.

Visiting Leicester City players celebrate at full time after their goalless draw against Sunderland on Saturday. Ian MacNicol / AFP

SUNDERLAND // At the final whistle, Leicester City’s players gathered at the edge of the box in front of the North Stand and applauded their fans, accommodated high up in the third tier.

Their fans celebrated the completion of an extraordinary escape and it is a mark of what Leicester have done that they were warmly clapped by the Sunderland fans as well.

This might not have been the prettiest or most memorable of the eight games in a remarkable run that has yielded 19 points, but it got the job done.

“We’ve got the player of the year do on Monday, which will be a decent celebration,” Nigel Pearson said.

“The players need to enjoy it for what it is. It has been a tremendous run. Given where we were, to achieve safety with a game to go is testament to the work that the players have put in and that’s something we can’t underplay.

“It remains difficult for sides who get promoted to establish themselves in the Premier League. It’s proved tough to compete. For the most part we’ve performed very well. We’ve been unable to find the winning formula often enough early in the season.

“Our players now have a full season of Premier League experience and hopefully that bodes well.”

Sunderland sit three points clear of Hull, with an inferior goal-difference, and two points above Newcastle United, with a goal difference that is five superior. One point, at either Arsenal on Wednesday or Chelsea next Sunday, will be enough to secure their Premier League future.

They will also stay up if Hull fails to beat Manchester United next week or Newcastle loses at home to West Ham United or, depending on goal difference (and that is where the game in hand may count against them) if Newcastle and West Ham draw.

“I cannot complain with the team today,” Dick Advocaat said.

“We worked very, very hard. The organisation was OK. We knew Leicester with set pieces can do something. Normal chances they did not get. We still have everything in our own hands. Why is it not possible to get a point?”

They have picked up eight points in their past four games and are perhaps on their way to a quietly remarkable escape of their own, but it pales by comparison with last season and, more pertinently, with what Leicester have done.

The sense even earlier in the season was that Leicester were not getting the rewards their football at times deserved and, in a sense, what has happened over the past month and a half is a redressing of the balance.

Yet that is to deny the psychological factor, the strength of character Leicester have shown simply to keep going when all seemed to be against them.

This was a grim, uncompromising game with a lot of crosses and set plays and little in the way of creative or progressive football – the biggest cheers came at news of goals for Tottenham against Hull and QPR against Newcastle – but Leicester will not care about that.

This was the culmination of a remarkable escape.

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