The race to secure automatic promotion from the Championship back to the Premier League took another turn over the weekend.
Leicester City beat Southampton in their last league outing, meaning they are all but guaranteed to secure 1st-place in the table.
Elsewhere, however, Leeds United’s hopes of automatic promotion were dented after a 4-0 hammering at the hands of QPR on Friday.
Championship Automatic Promotion Race: Current Standings
As mentioned above, Leicester City are likely to win the league this season and confirm their status as champions by beating Preston North End on Monday evening.
2nd place will now go to either Leeds United or Ipswich Town after 4th-place Southampton’s three losses on the spin ended their automatic promotion chances.
- 1st - Leicester City - Pld 44 - Pts 94 (+47 GD)
- 2nd - Leeds United Pld 45 - Pts 90 (+39 GD)
- 3rd - Ipswich Town Pld 44 - Pts 90 (+32 GD)
Leeds United Automatic Promotion Odds
Leeds United were heavy favourites to secure promotion back to the Premier League following their relegation in 2022/23.
The Peacocks started the campaign off fairly well and have been in and around the top-two for much of the season. However, their form in April has been rather dismal. It began with a 3-1 win over Hull City on April 1 but quickly tailed off after that. A 2-1 loss to Coventry City was followed by a draw with Sunderland and a loss to Blackburn Rovers.
Leeds did beat bitter rivals Middlesbrough 4-3 on April 22 to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive, but their last outing dealt them a major blow. The Whites faced QPR at Loftus Road this past Friday and headed into the game as favourites. However, the Yorkshire outfit found themselves 1-0 down after just eight minutes, with QPR doubling their lead before the break. Leeds failed to really test QPR’s goal and allowed the London outfit to score a further two in the second half.
As a result, Leeds will slip out of the top two if Ipswich win their game in hand on Tuesday, meaning they have to win their final game and hope The Tractor Boys drop points.
Leeds United’s remaining Championship fixtures
- Southampton (H) May 4
Ipswich Town Automatic Promotion Odds
Ipswich Town have shocked the Championship this season. Despite only securing promotion to England’s second division in 2022/23, they are on course to make it back-to-back promotions and return to the Premier League for the first time since 2002.
Ipswich sit on 90 points after 44 games and have lost the fewest games in the Championship this term (6). Should they beat Coventry City on Tuesday, they will knock Leeds out of the automatic promotion places ahead of the final weekend of action on May 4.
However, this is by no means guaranteed to happen as the East Anglian outfit have drawn their last three league outings, being held to a 3-3 draw with Hull over the weekend.
Ipswich Town’s remaining Championship fixtures
- Coventry (A) April 30
- Huddersfield Town (H) May 4
Today’s Football Tips
There is very little football on Monday, but we’ve got a huge game at the top of the Championship to focus on.
Leicester City travel away from home to face Preston, and we’ve got it covered with our bet builder of the day article, while for those of you looking to place an acca, we have our acca of the day lined up and ready to go.
This week’s best free bets and enhanced offers
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