Leicester City’s victory over Southampton on Sunday edged them closer to completing one of football’s greatest fairytales.

Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes, bottom of the Premier League this time last season, are now seven points clear at the top of the table with just six games to play.

A feature of Leicester’s march towards the first league title in their 132-year history has been their relentless ability to grind out narrow wins - often a hallmark of champions.

Sunday’s 1-0 win over Southampton was Leicester’s fourth in a row, their fifth in their last six games, and the seventh of their staggering season.

And 14 of Leicester’s 20 wins so far have come by a single goal - the most since Manchester United won 16 games by the odd goal on their way to the title in 2012/13.

That was Alex Ferguson’s final championship, and the ability to eke out three points in the tightest of circumstances was a recurring feature of the Scot’s 13 title winning sides.

In 1996/97 United overhauled Newcastle United’s 12-point lead at the top thanks to eight 1-0 wins, seven of which came from January onwards.

And speaking to Sky Sports Ferguson believes Leicester’s ability to do the same will see them clinch the title, he said: “You would think their inexperience would count, but Leicester have unbelievable energy and togetherness that suggests they’re going to see it through.

“For instance, they’ve won their last few games 1-0. I had a season at United where we had eight 1-0 victories and that won us the league.

“Those 1-0s are really important because it points out to me that they are a unit, they’re not going to lose.

“They have a determination about them and they are not afraid of the situation they find themselves in, which is important.”

As is stands four more single goal wins would see Ranieri’s side past the magical 80 point mark they need to secure the title.

And if Leicester’s sting of narrow wins do prove enough, it is not as if anybody can accuse them of being boring.

Indeed they have scored 55 goals this season - behind only second place Tottenham Hotspur (57) and Manchester City (56).

But Foxes fans won’t mind if they only see another four scored this season, and another four 1-0 wins get them over the line.

Leicester City’s 1-0 wins:

October 27th 2015: Leicester City 1 Crystal Palace 0 (Jamie Vardy)

January 13th 2016: Tottenham Hotspur 0 Leicester City 1 (Robert Huth)

February 27th 2016: Leicester City 1 Norwich City 0 (Leonardo Ulloa)

March 5th 2016: Watford 0 Leicester City 1 (Riyad Mahrez)

March 14th 2016: Leicester City 1 Newcastle United 0 (Shinji Okazaki)

March 19th 2016: Crystal Palace 0 Leicester City 1 (Mahrez)

April 3rd 2016: Leicester City 1 Southampton 0 (Wes Morgan)

Leicester City remaining fixtures:

April 10th: Sunderland v Leicester City

April 17th: Leicester City v West Ham United

April 24th: Leicester City v Swansea City

May 1st: Manchester United v Leicester City

May 7th: Leicester City v Everton

May 15th: Chelsea v Leicester City