Emotional Claudio Ranieri moved to tears by Leicester side in win over Sunderland

The emotional Italian had tears in his eyes when the final whistle was blown at the Stadium of Light, while Sunderland supporters were again left feeling frustrated.

Jamie Vardy proved the difference, with his two second-half goals enough for league leaders Leicester to seal three crucial points on Wearside.

Ranieri is keen to keep his squad firmly grounded though as they bid to win the Premier League.

And he insists their focus is not on silverware but their next league match, West Ham at home.

“I am happy because we got three points in a difficult match,” said Ranieri.

“At this moment against Sunderland was difficult because they had produced some fantastic performances recently and won against Manchester United.

“So to get three points here was important.

“People can continue to say [about winning the league] but our focus and concentration is on the next match, that is important for us.

“I said to the players well done, we won but we now have two very difficult matches coming up.

“Now we are happy but from the next training session, we are focused.”

The popular Foxes boss was beaming in his post-match press conference and he insisted he has had no problems keeping his players focused on the task in hand.

He added: “Every time I speak to the players it is ‘next match, next match’. Nothing else.

“Our concentration has been good and we always have to think about the next fixture.

“We try and improve everything and for me it is important they follow me, continue to concentrate in the training sessions and then everything is okay.”

“It is a fantastic achievement, an amazing season, for our fans, us, our chairman, everybody.

“Our goal was to be safe. And that is okay. Next it was to get in the Europa League. Now it is done.

“Now we have the Champions League very close to us.

“I want to thank the fans for their support, it is amazing. They are dreaming and we want to continue but we have to concentrate.”

N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater excelled in the centre of midfield but it was Vardy that scored the decisive goals - his second in added-on time was his 21st of the season.

Ranieri added: “I am very happy with Jamie, in the last weeks he didn’t score but made a great assist.

“At half-time I spoke to him, I said ‘I need you!’ and he scored!”