By Sam Holden
LONDON (Reuters) - Leicester City climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone for the first time since November with a battling 1-0 win at bottom club Burnley on Saturday.
Burnley's Matt Taylor slammed a second-half penalty against the post and from the rebound the visitors counter-attacked, Jamie Vardy tapping the ball in to give Leicester their fourth consecutive victory.
Defeat plunged Burnley deeper into the relegation mire, leaving them five points from the safety zone on 26 points with four games remaining.
Queens Park Rangers remained in 19th with 27 points after top scorer Charlie Austin missed a first-half penalty in a 0-0 home draw against West Ham United.
Sunderland fell into the bottom three after a 1-1 draw at Stoke City. The visitors took a first-minute lead through Connor Wickham but were pegged back by a superb driven shot from Charlie Adam midway through the first half.
It is a remarkable reversal of fortunes for Nigel Pearson (LONDON:PSON)'s Leicester, who moved up to 17th place and one point above the relegation zone with the win at Burnley.
They had languished at the bottom of the league table for 140 days before climbing two places last week.
No team has avoided relegation having been bottom for that long since the Premier League began 23 years ago, but Leicester's scintillating form suggests that record could change.
"You've got to find ways of winning games," Pearson told the BBC. "The players have deserved the breaks they've got, through a lot of honesty, hard work and ability.
"It's always a difficult league to be successful in, and we've got a lot of hard work to do. If people think the hard work's done, they're in for a shock."
Hull City, in 16th, secured a 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace but remained only one point above the relegation zone and Newcastle United lost 3-2 at home to Swansea City, their seventh straight league defeat.
Earlier, sixth-placed Tottenham Hotspur fought back to draw 2-2 with Southampton as the close battle for Europa League qualification intensified.
Liverpool remained fifth after a 0-0 draw at West Bromwich Albion as Steven Gerrard made his 500th Premier League appearance for the visitors in his final season in England.
Manchester City host Aston Villa in the late kickoff.