On the evening of May 4, the 46th round of the English Championship ended all 12 games, and the relegation places were basically all produced. In the end, Leicester City, which had already confirmed the league title in advance, lost 0-2 at home to Blackburn Rovers, but still returned to the Premier League after a year with 97 points; Ipswich defeated Huddersfield Town 2-0 at home, beating Leeds United to place second and directly promoted to the Premier League, after being relegated in the 2001-2002 season, returned to the Premier League again after 22 years, and completed two consecutive jumps from League One to the Premier League; Leeds United, Southampton, Norwich and West Brom will compete for the last promotion place through the play-offs.
Leicester City 0-2 Blackburn Rovers
After the Foxes were relegated from the Premier League last season, although they took away core players such as Maddison and Barnes, Vardy, Mavididi, Hall, Ndidi, Winks, Faith and other main players still chose to stay in the team to help Leicester City, which is a cut above the strength, run all the way in the first half of the season, but the team's form has declined after entering late February, once losing 6 out of 10 league games, and the ranking was also surpassed by Leeds United behind it.
Fortunately, the team adjusted its form in time and recently won a wave of three consecutive wins, and in the case of direct rival Leeds United winning only one of the last five games and a 0-4 defeat in the last round, Les Cityt locked up the Championship title in advance and returned to the Premier League after a year. Among them, the team's biggest contributor is the 37-year-old veteran Vardy, who not only helped the Foxes score 20 goals throughout the season, but also scored in the past three crucial league games, which can be said to have single-handedly led the Foxes to success.
Facing Blackburn Rovers in this game, Vardy, Ndidi, Winks, Mavididi, Faith and other main players still started. Leicester City had a staggering 72 per cent possession and were firmly in control of the game, but had few shots on goal, with only eight shots on goal and only two on target, and were beaten twice by rival Ireland midfielder Smodich in the 68th and 94th minutes of the second half to lose 2-0 at home to Blackburn.
But this result did not prevent Foxes from returning to the Premier League as champions. Next season, we can see Vardy, Faiss and others in the Premier League again, congratulations to the Foxes!
Ipswich Town 2-0 Huddersfield
Ipswich Town have been the most amazing team in the Championship this season, having only been promoted from League One last season and are valued at just €50.5 million, finishing 16th in the Championship. Among the players, the most valuable is 24-year-old homegrown midfielder Liv Davies, who has only 6 million euros.
But it is such a civilian team, but under the leadership of former Manchester United assistant coach McKenna, it has completed a two-level jump from League One to the Championship, and then from the Championship to the Premier League, which has a bit of the miracle of Kaiserslautern in English football. It just so happened that Leicester City in front of him was led by Vardy, Mahrez, Schmeichel Jr. and others to create the Kaiserslautern miracle of the Premier League.
In the face of the loss of the iron relegation to the League One Ha Town, although a draw can also ensure direct promotion to the Premier League, but Ipswich did not relent, with 29-year-old Welsh midfielder Burns and 20-year-old Jamaican striker Hutchinson scored a goal in each half, Ipswich won 2-0 at home, the league standings rose to 96 points, after the 2001-2002 season relegation, after 22 years back to the Premier League!
Leeds United 1-2 Southampton
Leeds United has been in the top two of the Championship this season for a long time, and even surpassed Leicester City, which has been in decline, to the top of the table, but the team entered the sprint period in April and suddenly lost all form, with only 4 points from 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses in the last 5 games, not only regaining the top spot by Leicester City, but also being overtaken by Ipswich Town behind him, and can only stoop to third place and participate in the play-offs.
Leeds were another disappointment against fourth-placed Southampton, conceding a goal in the 18th minute and although Pieroe equalised three minutes later, it was visiting midfielder Smallburn who scored in the 38th minute to give Southampton a 2-1 win at Leeds United and denied them a direct chance of promotion.
Elsewhere, Norwich City dropped to sixth with a 1-0 defeat at Birmingham City and will face Leeds United in the play-off semi-finals, while West Brom thrashed Preston North End 3-0 at home to finish fifth in the Championship and Southampton in the play-off semi-finals.
In terms of relegation places, although Birmingham won away at Norwich City and gained three valuable points, Birmingham, Huddersfield, who lost in this round, and Rotherham, who were relegated early, were relegated to League One because Blackburn, Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth all won in the final round.