An emotional night ended in a happy outcome for Leicester City as they continued their superb start to life in the Sky Bet Championship.
Representatives of both clubs laid wreaths at the memorial statue outside the King Power Stadium before last night’s game, as Friday marks the fifth anniversary of the helicopter crash that led to the death of the Leicester chairman, Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.
Off the pitch, Khun’s son and successor, Aiyawatt, has pledged to build on the foundations laid by his father. On it, the players seem determined to live up to the legacy that was established by the club’s Thai owners through winning promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
“It was a good present to be able to give to the fans and to the club,” Enzo Maresca, the Leicester manager, said. “It is a special week for the club, a very emotional one.
“It’s probably the game I am happiest with because Sunderland asked us lots of questions and we had to find the answers to them.”
Last month’s surprise home defeat by Hull City remains the only blemish on Leicester’s record, with last night’s victory, which made it 12 wins from 13 in the league this season, coming courtesy of James Justin’s 12th-minute header from a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall corner.
Leicester almost added a second six minutes later but Stephy Mavididi’s shot was turned on to a post by the foot of the Sunderland goalkeeper, Anthony Patterson. He produced another crucial intervention six minutes before the interval, touching Kelechi Iheanacho’s shot onto the opposite upright.
Both teams had penalty appeals turned down — Sunderland’s looked especially strong given that Wout Faes failed to make any contact on the ball as he slid in on Dan Neil — and while they struggled to create clear-cut chances, Tony Mowbray’s team deserve credit for the way they hung on in the game. They might even have claimed a point had the substitute, Abdoullah Ba, not blazed over with seven minutes left.
“We’re not going to finish above Leicester,” Mowbray, the Sunderland manager, said. “In my opinion, they’ll win the league. But if we keep playing like that, with the bravery and ambition, then we’ll be OK.”
