Leicester City have now played five consecutive games without scoring a goal, but having lost the previous four this was a result, and as important, a performance, that represented an improvement of sorts. Perhaps the Buddhist monks called in to bless the stadium by the club’s Thai owners before the game made the difference.
In fairness, it was not for lack of ambition or positivity that the Foxes failed to secure all three points. Having been criticised for what some perceived to be over-defensive selections, Nigel Pearson made the changes in personnel and formation that many of those supporters wanted to see, most notably re-introducing Riyad Mahrez on the right of a four man midfield, with Jamie Vardy alongside Leonardo Ulloa up front.
They had a go too, getting forward and creating decent chances, particularly during an energetic opening quarter when Mahrez was prominent. They fell off the pace a little after that, as Sunderland, in Gus Poyet’s favoured 4-1-4-1 formation, brought proceedings under some sort of control, and the visitors should have gone ahead through Steven Fletcher after the Scotland striker was played in by Adam Johnson. The City goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, made a fine block, as he did a few minutes later when Johnson’s long-range shot gathered pace off the wet surface.
The second half was all effort but depressingly little quality, though Matty James, bursting into the penalty area but unable to beat the Sunderland goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon, will feel he should have secured a win for City, while Mahrez, having left Wes Brown on the floor, saw a low shot diverted wide.
“We need to play like that more often, and if we do we’ll be all right,” said Pearson. “We created chances, worked their goalkeeper, and I think we were the better side, but it didn’t quite go our way. On another day we’d have won the game.”
With Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool on the horizon, Poyet appeared content. “It was a typical game between teams in our positions, but we’re back to being a difficult team to play against, which is good. A clean sheet was the best part of the game for us.
”They went back to the shape which worked for them at the start of the season, two up front, two wide, and tried to pin us back but after the first 20 minutes we brought the craziness of the game down and I wasn’t really worried we’d concede. We’ll play worse than that and win, that’s for sure.
“We’re trying to get back to basics,” said the Uruguayan, and in that respect, it was a case of objective achieved.
