Leicester City’s return to the Premier League was finally made official on Friday evening without the Foxes even being in action. Leeds United travelled to Loftus Road knowing that they needed to avoid defeat against QPR to stop Leicester going up that night, but Daniel Farke’s side were drubbed 4-0 by a spirited Rs side, with Ilias Chair, Lucas Andersen, Lyndon Dykes and Sam Field all scoring. Leicester City’s return to the Premier League was confirmed on Friday without them even kicking a ball.
Instead, it was Leeds United’s surprise 4-0 drubbing by Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road that sent Enzo Maresca’s side back to the big time, with Daniel Farke’s second-placed Whites needing to avoid defeat to at least stop the Foxes going up that evening.
However, Marti Cifuentes’ Rs had different ideas, with Ilias Chair and Lucas Andersen giving them a 2-0 buffer inside 22 minutes, before Lyndon Dykes and Sam Field rounded off the rout on 73 and 86 minutes as the visitors desperately threw men forward. As a result, Leicester, sitting top of the Championship having played 44 games, cannot slip any lower than second with Leeds having already played their penultimate game of the campaign and not being able to overtake them.
Ipswich Town, the other automatic promotion contenders, could also capitalise on Leeds’ disappointment, with Kieran McKenna’s side just a point behind the Yorkshire outfit, with two games in hand.
An Ipswich win against Hull City on Saturday won’t guarantee the Tractor Boys a remarkable return to the Premier League after 22 years away, but another win at Coventry City would take them up. In the race to stay up in the second tier, QPR have remarkably pulled themselves clear of danger despite a dismal start to the campaign that saw them mired beneath the dreaded dotted line.
Rotherham are already down, but the final two relegation spots will be decided between Huddersfield Town, Birmingham City, Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth Argyle, Blackburn Rovers, and Stoke City, going all the way up to 18th in the table.
Huddersfield and Birmingham currently occupy those two remaining relegation places, and face each other in a crunch match on Saturday at the John Smith’s Stadium.