THE Leicester City man netted his 20th and 21st goals of the season to lift the fairytale Foxes to a 2-0 win at Sunderland on Sunday.

    The win lifted the Foxes to a 10-point lead over Tottenham Hotspur, but Spurs scored three goals in six minutes to beat Manchester United 3-0 and remain seven points behind Leicester.

    The home loss leaves Sunderland in 18th, two points ahead of Newcastle and four behind next week’s opponents in Norwich City.

    The visitors were buzzing out of the gates, with N’Golo Kante’s relentless pressure earning an early corner from Younes Kaboul that came to nothing. Notice, however, was served.

    Shinji Okazaki had a decent penalty shout when DeAndre Yedlin’s attempted clearance caught the forward in the chest, but no call.

    Kaboul powered a 15-yard header over Schmeichel and the frame in the 36th minute.

    Fabio Borini got the next big chance. Fed by Defoe, the Italian took a hard shot that took a turn off Wes Morgan. An off-balance Schmeichel did very well to parry the effort.

    Borini probably could’ve netted a few times, but his finish has been off for so much of the season. He gets into fine position, but has only netted thrice in 17 starts.

    Vardy found Danny Drinkwater moments later, but the latter took too hard a touch and Mannone and Yedlin closed down the danger.

    Vardy’s 20th goal was a beauty and pretty much his standard, as he blazed down the left wing to collect a gorgeous ball from Drinkwater. The Englishman dinked it past Mannone to make it 1-0 with 25 minutes to play.

    Jack Rodwell missed a sitter in the 82nd minute, sending it zooming by the right upper 90.

    At the other end, Kante slipped Leonardo Ulloa through only to see the Argentine take a bad touch and miss the insurance opportunity.

    Mannone made a terrific point-blank save on substitute Daniel Amartey in the third minute of stoppage time.

    Vardy then barreled past Patrick Van Aanholt and dribbled around Mannone to slot home his 21st.

    Also on Sunday, a trio of quickfire second-half goals helped Tottenham to maintain their pursuit of Premier League leaders Leicester City with a 3-0 win over Manchester United.

    Kick-off was delayed by half an hour as the United team bus fell foul of London traffic but it took a good deal longer for much excitement to arrive, as White Hart Lane endured a dour first half without a shot on target.

    But 0-0 became 3-0 within six scintillating second-half minutes as Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela struck to land damaging blows against United’s hopes of a top-four finish.

    Tottenham’s outlook is comparatively more positive after they eventually found an impressive response to Leicester’s earlier Sunday win at Sunderland to sit seven points behind the leaders with five matches remaining.

    United lie fifth, four points shy of neighbors Manchester City, and contributed little as an attacking force in the latest turgid showing of the Louis van Gaal era.

    This result, combined with Leicester’s 2-0 success at the Stadium of Light, means Claudio Ranieri’s men are now assured of Champions League qualification for next season.  (SD-Agencies)