Leicester forges ahead, Chelsea, West Ham win

Leicester City continue their fairy tale journey to  their first Barclays Premier League title after earning a last-gasp victory against Norwich City on Saturday.

Chelsea overwhelmed  Southampton to secure a 2-1 victory at St Mary’s Stadium, while West Ham also sank  visiting Sunderland 1-0 to clinch the maximum points.

Leonardo Ulloa, left, slotting in the crucial goal for Leicester

The Leicester-Norwich match was almost going into the sharing of spoils, until substitute Leonardo Ulloa struck in the 89th minute.

It was the visitors who had the best opening of a goalless first half when Cameron Jerome missed a headed opportunity from close range shortly before the break.

Leicester improved slightly as the match progressed but struggled to seriously threaten the visitors’ goal until Ulloa tapped in at the far post as the match looked to be moving towards a draw.

Claudio Ranieri’s men kept a fifth consecutive BPL clean sheet at home and their win puts the pressure back on their closest title rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, who face Swansea City and Manchester United respectively on Sunday.

Norwich remain 17th in the standings and only sit above Newcastle United, who have a match in hand, on goal difference.

In Southampton, Branislav Ivanovic headed in a late winner as Chelsea came from behind to earn a victory.

Ronald Koeman’s men went into the match at St Mary’s Stadium on a run of six league matches unbeaten and six consecutive clean sheets.

Goalkeeper Fraser Forster reached 667 minutes of top-flight football without conceding to set a club record in the match, and Shane Long then opened the scoring, taking full advantage of a poor header from Chelsea left-back Baba Rahman with a 42nd-minute strike.

But Southampton’s backline capitulated in the 75th minute, allowing Cesc Fabregas to level as Forster was beaten after 708 minutes of BPL action with a cross that went straight in.

And there was last twist in the tale, with Ivanovic meeting Willian’s corner with a powerful header to complete a dramatic turnaround with one minute remaining.

Other scores:

Stoke City 2-1 Aston Villa

Watford 0-0 AFC Bournemouth

Westham1-0 Sunderland

*Source: www.premierleague.com