Leicester City secure Premier League status as Hull, Sunderland and Newcastle confront relegation

Leicester City completed one of the most remarkable turns of fortune in Premier League history on Saturday afternoon. Their 0-0 draw at Sunderland guaranteed them top flight football for a second consecutive season. At the beginning of April they were bottom and seemingly doomed for a return to the Championship - the second tier of professional football in England. Sunderland, Hull City and Newcastle United remain under threat in the final week of the campaign.

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson guided his side to safety after they appeared set for relegation to the second division. Reuters/Lee Smith

Chelsea killed off the tension of the title race a fortnight ago when they beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to claim the Premier League.

Since that very merry day in May for the Stamford Bridge faithful, the Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, has tried to stoke up enthusiasm.

He said it was important for his team to achieve second place to lay down a marker for next season.

Then his players went out on 11 May and gave a flat performance during a 1-0 defeat to Swansea City at the Emirates.

Arsenal, who travel to Manchester United on 17 May, are third - three points behind Manchester City. Manchester United are two points off the north Londoners in fourth place.

None of them want to finish in fourth - which means two qualifying games for next season's Champions League.

At the other end of the pile, the intrigue continues. Players at Hull City and Newcastle United must gird their loins for a battle on the final day of the season on 24 May.

Both sides lost their penultimate games on Saturday. Hull went down 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle slumped 2-1 at Queens Park Rangers.

QPR - relegated last weekend following their 6-0 annihilation at Manchester City - showed some backbone before the fans at Loftus Road in west London.

They trailed at half-time to Emmanuel Riviere's goal. But within 10 minutes of the restart Matthew Phillips levelled and Leroy Fer's goal on the hour mark meant that QPR's Premier League home campaign could at least sign off on a positive note.

It was Newcastle's 10th defeat in 11 games. And while that abject sequence has catapulted them towards the danger zone, they might just elude the indignity of descent to the second division.

Hull, who occupy the final relegation berth, could not contain a Spurs side that reignited its bid for a place in next season's Europa League.

Second-half strikes from Nacer Chadli and Danny Rose were enough to see off Steve Bruce's side who will rue even more the failure to beat Burnley last weekend.

With Manchester United to visit Hull next weekend, Bruce's charges could well be joining Burnley next season in the Championship.

Newcastle United play West Ham United at St James Park on 24 May.

With Hull two points behind Newcastle, Newcastle need to match Hull's result.

For a huge chunk of the season, Leicester City appeared to be heading back to the second division. But the 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland confirmed their Premier League status for another year.

Nigel Pearson's team was bottom at the beginning of April but they have taken 19 out of a possible 24 points to reach 38 points and safety with a game to spare.

Goalkeeper Kaspar Schmeichel told the club's official website: "The manager deserves great credit. He's the best manager I've worked under. The boys kept believing all season.

"It's a great day for the fans, the players, the manager and the owners. We needed a run of form and we got it."

Sunderland could have guaranteed their survival with a win over Leicester City.

They might live to regret such wastefulness. They need one point from their remaining two games - at Arsenal on 20 May and then at the champions Chelsea on 24 May.

It's possible that Wenger's players will exert themselves after all for that second spot and beat Sunderland on Wednesday.

Such an outcome will mean Sunderland will be part of the relegation dogfight on the final day of the season.

Chelsea will be in party mood next Sunday when they host Sunderland because the Premier League trophy and winners medals will be presented to them after the game.

Jose Mourinho's squad will have been waiting three weeks to get their hands on the shiny baubles. They'll want to do that on a high. Sunderland may well be joining in the celebrations because of results elsewhere.

They may well also be skulking off into the shadows to consider life at a lower level.