London - Burnley, Queens Park Rangers and Sunderland slipped closer to the relegation trapdoor in the Premier League on Saturday as Leicester City and Hull City recorded timely victories.
Bottom club Burnley lost 1-0 at home to Leicester in agonising circumstances, with Jamie Vardy notching a 60th-minute winner for the visitors just seconds after Burnley's Matt Taylor had hit the post with a penalty.
Vardy poked the ball over the line after Michael Duff had turned a Marc Albrighton cross towards his own goal to give Leicester a fourth successive win, which took Nigel Pearson's side out of the bottom three.
"The players have deserved the breaks they've got, through a lot of honesty, hard work and ability," said Leicester manager Pearson. "But if people think the hard work's done, they're in for a shock."
Burnley are now five points adrift of safety having played a game more than many of the teams above them and QPR are just a point better off following a 0-0 draw at home to West Ham United.
Charlie Austin should have put QPR ahead from the penalty spot mid-way through the first half after James Collins was penalised for handball, but West Ham goalkeeper Adrian saved with his legs.
Sunderland slipped into the relegation places after a 1-1 draw at Stoke City, who equalised through a powerful Charlie Adam strike after Connor Wickham had given the visitors a first-minute lead.
Hull capitalised on their rivals' slip-ups by ending a six-game winless run with a 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace, courtesy of a second-half brace from Senegalese striker Dame N'Doye.
Free-falling Newcastle United are also in danger of being sucked into the relegation scrap after losing 3-2 at home to Swansea City.
Ayoze Perez gave John Carver's side a 20th-minute lead at St James' Park, but Swansea hit back through Nelson Oliveira, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jack Cork before Siem de Jong claimed a late consolation for the hosts.
Newcastle have now lost seven consecutive league games for the first time since 1977.
AFP
