The top three teams in the Championship are separated by just two points, so we’re in for an exciting season-ending day. You’re going to need something to bite onto on Saturday, May 4, so start growing your fingernails now.
Leeds United plays Southampton on the last day of the Championship. There’s a good chance that the three teams vying for automatic promotion will have grown to four by the time we get to game 46 of what will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest Championship promotion wars ever witnessed.
Saints have two games left, the first of which they will host Preston North End tonight evening. If Southampton wins tonight, they will have a game remaining and will be within three points of Leicester City the following Tuesday.
Goal difference will determine who advances to the Premier League and who must endure excruciating pain in the play-offs, so come game day it might be time to whip out the calculator. There is so little to choose between the main protagonists in this ridiculous plot that it feels like it could have been staged in Hollywood.
Leeds United currently lead the Championship in goal differential, and given their advantage, it will take more than just the customary drama to turn that around, surely? Leeds’ advantage, at plus 42 goals, may just be one goal over Leicester, but it’s a substantial 10 goals over Ipswich Town’s 32 goals and 15 goals over
Leeds boasts the greatest defensive record in the Championship, and their unbeaten streak from the start of the season has greatly bolstered their position. Leeds is expected to win that match if, at 2:30 pm on the last Saturday, both Ipswich and Leeds have the same number of points.
Leeds only have to concentrate on winning their remaining three games to secure a higher finish than Kieran McKenna’s club. If they succeed in doing so, any points that the Tractor Boys fail to score will be made up by the Whites. Additionally, Southampton won’t be able to catch Daniel Farke’s team if they accomplish that.
Yes, there are ifs, buts, and maybes, but despite all the rhetoric that Leeds cannot get promotion automatically, the team has a very, very good chance of doing so if they win their next three games. Let’s hold onto that until—undoubtedly—the next impediment appears.
