The upshot of Leeds United losing their unbeaten run in 2024 is the impact it has on the league picture. Ultimately, Leeds are now relying on at least one favour from either Leicester City or Ipswich Town.
With five games to go, opportunities for slip-ups are thinning out. With the form all three sides have shown across more than 40 matches, defeats and draws simply do not happen very often. Opportunities have to be taken and the Whites let theirs slip on Saturday afternoon.
Ipswich’s trip to Norwich City always looked like it would be the sternest of their remaining tests this season. The Canaries did their bit and won the East Anglian derby at lunchtime. After nine wins in their previous 10 games, Kieran McKenna’s side had given the Whites a rare chance to seize the initiative with less than a month of the season to go.
Even a draw would have virtually put United’s automatic promotion hopes in their own hands, such is the advantage they have on goal difference over Ipswich. Alas, after 15 matches without defeat, Daniel Farke’s side finally succumbed.
They can now win all five of their remaining games, finish the season on 101 points and still finish third. There is nothing they can do about the top two. There is no sense in overreacting, though.
Think back to how low everything looked for Leicester just nine days ago. They had kicked Good Friday off with a loss in the early game at Bristol City. It was a fourth loss in six matches and the only proof any outsiders needed the Foxes were supposedly bottling it after such a dominant first half of the season.
And yet, here we are. Leicester are back on top of the pile and still with their game in hand to play. Win that and they are five clear of the Whites. As hard as it is to see Leeds reeling in that kind of gap, Enzo Maresca has some tricky fixtures ahead.
West Bromwich Albion and Southampton, two of the five best teams in the league, will each visit King Power Stadium across three days. They are the kind of tests that will really test Leicester’s title credentials, especially as the former is still battling to finalise a play-off berth.
A trip to Deepdale in Leicester’s penultimate game could also be hard going if Ryan Lowe’s side somehow tilt the play-off picture back in their favour by then. Whatever happens before the final day, in the last chance saloon itself you have to assume Leicester and Ipswich are ending with three points apiece.
Blackburn Rovers visit the leaders and Huddersfield Town visit Portman Road. The one crumb of comfort from the latter is the Terriers will surely be fighting for their lives until the last kick to stay in the division.
McKenna’s side has an appetising week at home ahead with Watford and Middlesbrough visiting. Recent form suggests they will bank six points before navigating potential banana skins at Hull City and Coventry, as Leeds have just experienced.
Kamara’s off week could open door to new avenues
There is no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater after one defeat in 16 league matches. Every regular in Farke’s squad has played their part in this sequence of results since the turn of the year and none of them have become bad options overnight.
There are, though, options and alternative combinations at Farke’s disposal and four points from the nine available since the international break could be cause for some reshuffling. Glen Kamara, one of the key cogs in the wins over Leicester and Ipswich this season, has had a tough week with illness and looked some way from his best in both games.
Kamara has been at his best when acting as the dominant force in midfield, wrecking shop, breaking up play, stopping opposition counters high up the field and getting up and down the pitch. Attacking ingenuity has not been his strength nor is it particularly what Farke wants from him
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