Race for PL: Leicester back in control; Can Leeds put pressure on Ipswich?

There are now just two rounds of the Sky Bet Championship season remaining – but everything is still to be decided at the top of the table.

Only four points separate Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds as we head into the final run-in, while Southampton are five points outside the automatic promotion places.

All three have played one more game than Southampton, who face Leicester live on Sky Sports Football on Tuesday night.

So who wants promotion the most? Who will hold their nerve to the last? And who is going to be left at the mercy of the play-offs?

Here, we take a look at the race for the Premier League.

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1st – Leicester, 91 points

Leicester are back at the top of the Championship – and at least until Monday night, when Leeds face Middlesbrough, live on Sky Sports Football.

Successive defeats to Millwall and Plymouth before that looked like they had derailed their title bid once again, but though their performance was unconvincing at the King Power, they managed to hold off West Brom and pick up three vital points, which means they can still reach 100.

On Tuesday night, they face Southampton in their game in hand, which could have a huge bearing on how the final stretch of the season pans out.

2nd – Ipswich, 89 points

Ipswich still stand a great chance of automatic promotion, but their form has started to buckle at the wrong time.

Since their dramatic last-minute win over Southampton on Easter Monday, Kieran McKenna’s men have picked up just two of the nine points available, after the East Anglian derby defeat to Norwich and draws with Watford and Middlesbrough.

The two-point advantage over third-placed Leeds means their chances are still favourable, but with their final three opponents still chasing their own targets at both ends of the table, results must improve if they are to fend off their rivals to achieve back-to-back promotions.

3rd – Leeds, 87 points

Leeds put together a superb run of 15 games unbeaten between New Year’s Day and April 6, which was enough to briefly take them to the top of the Championship, but, again, they have stumbled under the pressure.

Daniel Farke’s side have picked up just one point from their last three, losing to Coventry and Blackburn either side of a 0-0 draw against Sunderland at Elland Road on April 9 and need to hope the teams around them continue to suffer a dip in form in order to try and avoid the play-offs.

4th – Southampton, 84 points

Ahead of their final run of four league matches, Southampton were the team in form. As their rivals stumbled, they thrived. It looked almost a formality that three straight wins would become four at Cardiff.

They took the lead through Joe Aribo, but Famara Diedhiou and teenager Cian Ashford scored in the second half to take the game from Russell Martin’s men.

Win against Leicester on Tuesday and they are right back in the fight with two to play. Lose and the play-offs is as good as it gets.

Who is in the mix for the play-offs?

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