Fearless Leicester showing belief needed to survive Premier League relegation

Leicester 2 Swansea 0: Leicester continued their survival campaign with a vital win to move them to within a whisker of rising out of the drop zone

Leicester celebrate victory over Swansea (GETTY IMAGES)

Fear is supposed to stalk clubs caught up in a relegation fight but Leicester City bucked that trend on Saturday as they displayed the ingredients that their manager, Nigel Pearson, believes can save their Premier League status.

The positive, front-foot approach of Pearson’s team, who started the game with three strikers and pressed high up the pitch, was matched by the backing of a vibrant home crowd as Leicester climbed to 18th place, above Burnley and Queen’s Park Rangers, with their third successive victory.

They will face teams with more to play for this season than Swansea City but what was striking about the atmosphere inside the King Power Stadium was that – from the moment that the terrier-like Jamie Vardy ran at the heart of the visitors’ defence inside the first 10 seconds – players and fans alike seemed gripped by a sense that survival is now possible.

Pearson said: “To play in front of such a positive home crowd is something that is going to be important from here on in. We are involved in a six-game season and four of them are at home. If we can create the same sort of package in terms of us performing and the fans putting on a great performance as well, we have got a great chance.”

Four of Leicester’s remaining games are at home – against Chelsea, Newcastle United, Southampton and QPR – with just two away, at Burnley, next Saturday, and Sunderland. Three of these matches are against fellow strugglers, where victory would be doubly helpful to their hopes of staying up.

Prior to Saturday, Leicester had been bottom of the table since 29 November and during those five months, Pearson was reportedly sacked, then reinstated after his touchline tangle with James McArthur during February’s home defeat by Crystal Palace. Yet, according to striker Leonardo Ulloa, “the feeling now is much better than before” among a group of players who are alone among the bottom eight clubs in having won three straight league games.

The Argentinian embodied the feeling that things are coming together at the right time for the East Midlands side. Ulloa was on the pitch to score the opening goal only because of a calf problem sustained by David Nugent in the warm-up.

He learned he would start the game, he said, “about 15 minutes before kick-off” yet took just 15 minutes to give Leicester a deserved early lead which midfielder Andy King doubled late on. For Leicester’s record £8m signing, without a Premier League goal since Boxing Day, it was the perfect time to end his scoring drought. “It’s important for me as a striker,” he added. “You can’t always get the goals but it gives you more belief.”

He described the self-belief from previous wins over West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion as contagious. “We need more points, but we have more confidence,” he said. “We have six finals now and we need to carry on playing with the same mentality, pressing and intensity.”

On Saturday’s evidence, it could well be enough.