The Championship title race moves on to the King Power Stadium as Leicester play host to Southampton.
Foxes Versus Saints
After defeat at the weekend, Southampton’s faint automatic hopes have taken a dent, but they still have a role to play in this season’s title race.
The Spoiler Role
As we approach the final fortnight of this breathless Championship season, the lung capacity of each of the top four will tested from now until the final mile and as we get down to business, two of the top four that are hoping to join the big business of the Premier League meet on Tuesday.
In the blue corner is a Leicester side who rediscovered that winning feeling at the weekend and in the red and white corner is a Southampton side that on that very same Saturday managed to slip up at the worst possible time.
For the Foxes it was a 2-1 home win at the expense of playoff probables West Brom and although Enzo Maresca’s men raced into a 2-0 lead, a late consolation for the Baggies certainly made the King Power atmosphere tense in the final few minutes.
Especially as Leicester had lost previously to both Millwall and Plymouth and with nerves already shredded going into their Midlands derby with West Brom, there would not have been many fingernails left during the dying seconds the game.
A victory that managed to put themselves four points clear of Leeds before their trip to Middlesbrough on Monday and with that gap, it means they will start Tuesday night at the top of the Championship before the visit of Southampton.
In recent weeks the Saints have possessed the one thing that the three clubs above them have not. That precious commodity is momentum and although Russell Martin’s men were playing catchup, automatic promotion was still nearly in their own hands before the weekend.
With fixtures against both Leicester and Leeds to contest in this final stretch, victory in both would have allowed the St Mary’s outfit to truly gatecrash the Championship promotion party but unfortunately for them, defeat at Cardiff on Saturday has seen become ejected instead.
A defeat that came from nowhere when looking at the context of the game at the Cardiff City Stadium and after taking an early lead in South Wales, you would have put a large amount of money on Southampton then getting over the line.
However, a second half equaliser from Famara Diédhiou and then a 95th minute winner from Cian Ashford turned the game and the rest of the season on its head for Russell Martin and his players. Now those same players will have to buy a ticket to the Championship playoff lottery.
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and with the combination of results at the weekend, I think Southampton will start to wind down with a trip to Wembley in mind. Therefore, I am backing the home win and both teams to score at odds of 12/5.
In addition to this, I am going to opt for a correct score tip and with Leicester winning 2-1 at the weekend, I think we will see more of the same on Tuesday. With this in mind, the same winning outcome for the Foxes at the expense of the Saints is priced at 8/1.
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