DURING a Premier League season when supporters have come to expect the unexpected, Sam Allardyce thinks his Sunderland players can deliver the latest twist to an incredible season by putting a dent into Leicester City’s title dreams tomorrow.

The Foxes are a staggering seven points clear of Tottenham with just six matches remaining and the sight of Claudio Ranieri’s team leading the way has stunned the world of football – not to mention gained huge support from the neutral.

Leicester’s success this season has been a result of excellent team spirit and great management from the experienced Italian, while bigger spending Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have all struggled to keep up.

In recent weeks Leicester have had to show a different side to their exciting counter-attacking style by recording five 1-0 victories from their last six matches.

But the importance of Sunderland stopping Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez in their tracks is also significant in the fight to avoid relegation. If Norwich City win at Crystal Palace today, the Black Cats will trail both of the clubs by seven points.

Yet everyone – even Allardyce – thinks Sunderland are more than capable of claiming a result against a team seemingly destined to become champions next month.

"It would be a surprise because they have Mahrez and Vardy, two of the top scorers in the Premier League,” said Allardyce. “They have got clean sheets running right through the team. It is a hugely well drilled, well organised, highly confident side to play against, to break down, to beat and to keep two of the best goalscorers in the league quiet.

"It has grown in confidence as the season has gone on. Just as I think we have managed the pressure really well in the position we are in, they have managed the pressure magnificently up to now and performed in every game when everyone has been saying ‘is this the one where Leicester are going to slip up?’ And they haven't - they have only lost three.”

Despite Leicester’s incredible form – they have lost just twice away from home and won ten – many pundits and fans up and down the country actually think Sunderland have a chance of getting a favourable result.

Allardyce, whose side have won just one in ten but are undefeated in four, said: "It's strange, isn't it? What's been a mighty, indifferent season in terms of predictions … so many people have done so much more and other teams have done so much less than expected, that we are now expecting the unexpected to actually happen. So I hope it's the truth.

“No one expected us to beat Manchester United and we did and that's our last win in fact. I would have hoped we would have kicked on with two or three wins from that but we have had the opportunities but failed miserably ourselves in achieving that.

“But if we can maintain the performance level we showed against West Brom last weekend, which I think is the least level we are going to have to achieve against Leicester based on their recent capabilities of being the masters of the 1-0 victory."

Allardyce will be happy for Leicester to win the league, believing it is good for the country if a lesser light wins it for a change, but he is determined to ensure they have a set-back.

He said: “If they win it they will become only the sixth team to ever have won the Premier League. The underdogs before that, which spent a lot of money to get there, were Blackburn in 1995.

“Then there has been Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea. We are breaking new ground which is great for the Premier League. I am sure it has caused great interest from the worldwide brand when the millions are all glued into the TV set to watch Leicester and to see them slip up, which they haven’t slipped up so far. I hope they slip up very badly on Sunday.”

But, having studied the Foxes closely this week, he knows it is a tough ask to get the job done to boost a relegation fight which has got both Sunderland and Newcastle on course for the Championship.

Allardyce said: “They were an extremely good counter attacking side. They could break away and score two or three goals or come back from one or occasionally two goals down and then the opposition thought a lot more about them and thought ‘how do we stop this wave of counter attacking football?’

“But they have managed to overcome that by winning games 1-0, 1-0 and 1-0. Tactically they have changed as the season has gone on. The more teams have respected them, the more they have had to change the way they play to break that team down and they have still continued to do it. You have to admire what they have achieved up to now.”