The 2023/24 Championship campaign is set to draw to a close on Saturday, May 4, with all 24 teams in action.
Leicester City confirmed their promotion to the Premier League and status as champions on April 29 with a 3-0 win over Preston North End.
However, the battle for 2nd place in the division will go down to the final gameweek of the season and sees Ipswich Town and Leeds United competing.
Championship Automatic Promotion Race: Current Standings
As was to be expected at the start of the season, a Leicester side with a number of Premier League-quality stars won the Championship title with relative ease.
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.
- 2nd - Ipswich Town Pld 45 - Pts 93 (+33 GD)
- 3rd - Leeds United Pld 45 - Pts 90 (+39 GD)
Who will secure automatic promotion to the Premier League?
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town have shocked the Championship this term. 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 have been in and around the top two for much of the season and even looked as though they could go up as champions at one stage. A recent dip in form ended those hopes but they have been helped out by Leeds United also struggling.
Leeds have lost three, won one and drawn one of their previous five league games. This, in turn, allowed Ipswich to overtake them in the standings on Tuesday when they beat Coventry City 2-1 in their game in hand. While 2nd place is not yet guaranteed for Ipswich, they just need to beat 23rd-place Huddersfield on Saturday and they will be back in the top-flight next term.
Leeds United
Leeds United were among the favourites to secure promotion to the Premier League at the start of 2023/24.
The Whites began the campaign fairly well and, like Ipswich, have been in and around the top two for much of the season. However, their form in April has been poor. It began with a 3-1 win over Hull City on April 1 but quickly tailed off. A 2-1 loss to Coventry City was followed by a draw with Sunderland and a loss to Blackburn Rovers.
Leeds 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 went on to lose the game 4-0 and after Ipswich’s win over Coventry on Monday, their automatic promotion chances are now out of their hands.
Leeds have a better goal difference than the Tractor Boys but must rely on them losing their final game on Saturday, while the Peacocks have to pick up three points at home to Southampton.
Today’s Football Tips
There are no Championship games this evening, but the Europa Conference League is back on Thursday with Aston Villa and Olympiakos set to face off.
Olympiakos travel away from home to take on Aston Villa, 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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