Striker David Nugent secured three vital points for Leicester City with a wonderful strike to beat Wolves 2-1 at the King Power Stadium.
The experienced centre forward's goal came as a Wolves side fought back after a first-half strike by City's Frenchman Anthony Knockaert.
The win was City's fifth on the trot and gave them a three-point cushion over third-placed Hull in the fight for the two automatic promotion places.
The visitors struggled to settle into the Championship match and deservedly went behind to the Knockaert strike, but fought back with a spectacular 51st-minute equaliser from midfielder Bakary Sako.
Despite Wolves looking a much-improved team after the break, David Nugent sealed all three points in the 73rd minute.
Both teams made four changes to the sides that started their weekend fixtures, with Wolves manager Saunders handing a full league debut to defender Danny Batth as Roger Johnson began his three-match ban for a red card picked up against Blackpool on Saturday.
Leicester started brightly and went close to opening the scoring in the fourth minute with a long-range effort from Nugent, before Knockaert fired a 25-yard strike narrowly over the crossbar just minutes later.
Wolves almost went ahead against the run of play in the 15th minute, when Kasper Schmeichel punched the ball into the path of Sako, who aimed a powerful pass across the six-yard box, narrowly out of the reach of Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's outstretched foot.
Recent Leicester signing Chris Wood almost added to his already-healthy goalscoring account at the club with a dipping effort from 25 yards out, but the strike crept just over the crossbar.
The Foxes made their considerable pressure count on 24 minutes, when Knockaert dribbled the ball into the Wolves area unchallenged, created an angle for himself, and fired past Carl Ikeme, whose touch was not enough to turn the effort around the post.
The impressive Knockaert continued to cause problems for the Wolves defence and had calls for a penalty denied after feeling a nudge in the back from Sako.
Karl Henry was lucky to still be on the field minutes later after his reckless challenge caught the ankle of Andy King, but referee Robert Madley felt a free-kick was punishment enough.
Leicester continued to dominate, but were unable to extend their lead before the break, despite a glorious opportunity for Ben Marshall on the stroke of half-time.
Wolves made the best possible start to the second half, with Sako firing a spectacular equaliser into the bottom-right corner of the goal from the edge of the penalty area in the 51st minute.
The visitors looked a much-improved side after the equaliser, but Nugent produced a superb solo goal from the edge of the Wolves area to put Leicester back in control.
He could have doubled his tally five minutes from time when the ball fell to him on the edge of the six-yard box - but the striker could not find the finish.
Wolves had a flurry of chances in the closing stages, Ebanks-Blake going agonisingly close to pulling Wolves level with an effort that struck the foot of a post.
