Leicester City promoted to Premier League

London: Leicester City clinched promotion to the Premier League without kicking a ball on Saturday as their two main rivals both lost.

Nigel Pearson`s side had already beaten Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on Friday to move within touching distance of a return to the English top-flight for the first time since 2004. And the Championship leaders were able to celebrate confirmation of their promotion less than 24 hours later as third placed QPR lost 2-1 at Bournemouth, while fourth placed Derby crashed 1-0 at Middlesbrough. Those results ensured a top-two finish for the big-spending Foxes, who are owned by a Thai consortium backed by chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. Leicester`s promotion has been on the cards for several weeks after they surged nine points clear of second placed Burnley thanks to a superb 21-game unbeaten run. They already have 89 points, two more than Cardiff`s final total when the Welsh club won promotion as second tier champions last season. With six games still to play, Pearson`s men can focus on finishing top and possibly cracking the 100-point barrier. Speaking after Friday`s win at the King Power Stadium, Pearson had insisted he wouldn`t watch the scores come in on Saturday. "No. My job is to get this club promoted. Whether it`s tomorrow, whether it`s Tuesday, the next week, the week after it`s irrelevant really. It`s about getting promotion," he said. "I want us to win every game that we can and I want us to be champions, but we`ll have to fight very hard to do that. "We`ll get promoted as and when we deserve it."