Leeds United are only two games away from regaining promotion to the Premier League, but they are aware that they will need Ipswich to drop points in order to do it.
Leicester City’s success last night effectively moves them into the top two for the conclusion of the season, four points ahead of Leeds with only two games remaining.
It means Daniel Farke’s team will face Ipswich Town in a very uncomplicated match on May 4 to ensure Leeds are in the top two.
Championship table as it currently stands: Then there were three.
Southampton’s 5-0 defeat against Leicester does not mathematically throw them out of the automatic promotion battle, but they are six points and 19 goals behind in the table, so they are virtually out.
It puts Leicester at the top of the league and comfortably so, with Leeds and Ipswich following behind in what appears to be a two-horse fight to join the Foxes in the top tier.
Leeds have played 44 games, while Ipswich have 43, with a game in hand against Coventry City next week after facing Hull City on Saturday.
| Position | Club | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Leicester City | 44 | 30 | 4 | 10 | 47 | 94 |
| 2 | Leeds United | 44 | 27 | 9 | 8 | 43 | 90 |
| 3 | Ipswich Town | 43 | 26 | 11 | 6 | 32 | 89 |
Neil Warnock thinks Ipswich will “spoil” Leeds’ promotion celebrations.
Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich team will be promoted regardless of Leeds’ performance, which would be an exceptional feat after getting promoted from League One last season.
Former Leeds manager Neil Warnock was on the Sky Sports panel at the King Power on Tuesday night to see Leicester’s victory over the Saints, in which he hopes Ipswich will beat Leeds to promotion, upsetting the status quo of the three relegated sides.
“When you look at the top four clubs, three of them will almost certainly get promoted. And then there’s Ipswich, which is doing exceptionally well.
“I voted [McKenna] as my manager of the season. To be at this level and accomplish what he has done for the past two years.
“It will be a fantastic end-of-season run-in. I’m really looking forward to it, and to be honest, I enjoy rooting for the underdog. So I hope Ipswich continue to wreck the party.”
Leeds simply need to do their jobs.
Given that Ipswich has three games in seven days, it would be a tall order for them to win three in a row, especially given their recent form.
For Leeds, however, we don’t need to worry about that because we only need to defeat QPR and Southampton to give ourselves the best opportunity.
Winning two out of two puts a lot of pressure on Ipswich to perform flawlessly in their final stretch, as anything else helps us.
