Albrighton Hails Vardy Importance

- Vardy scored twice in a 2-0 win over Sunderland in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday 

- The win maintains Leicester City’s seven point lead at the top of the table 

- Albrighton discusses City’s defensive solidarity after a fifth straight clean sheet 

After watching Jamie Vardy rattle in his 20th and 21st goals of the Barclays Premier League season, Marc Albrighton was quick to point out how important the striker is to the team. 

The England man brilliantly broke the deadlock away to Sunderland on Sunday after latching onto a Danny Drinkwater pass and racing clear of the last defender, before completing a 2-0 win in stoppage time by rounding the ‘keeper. 

It was a victory that maintained City’s seven point lead over Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the table with five left to play, and in the process secured Champions League football next season. 

And for Albrighton, the display of Vardy, whose high energy pressing caused Sunderland problems all afternoon, underlined just how key he is for the current team. 

“He’s huge," Albrighton told . “You can see today that the reason we won the game was because of his movement and obviously a superb pass by Drinky (Danny Drinkwater) for the first goal, but Jamie’s movement is vital for that."

And while Vardy becoming the first Leicester City player to score 20 top-flight goals in a season for more than 30 years grabbed many headlines, so too did the City defence. 

The Foxes have conceded just six league goals this year, while the recent run of five straight wins have all brought with them clean sheets as well – a reward for the team’s hard work according to Albrighton. 

“We obviously had a lot of chances towards the end where we could have wrapped it up and made it a little less nervous,” he said. 

“We got the goal late on with one of the last kicks of the game but it was another solid performance, another clean sheet that the defence are over the moon with and another win. 

“As a unit with Kasper [Schmeichel], the back four and the central midfielders, it’s massive. Everyone is compact, sticks together and that’s what’s keeping these clean sheets. 

“Then obviously you’ve got Kasper in goal and with him being as good a goalkeeper as he is, if teams are to break through the defence then you can always rely on him.”