Leeds United promotion battle takes unexpected twist amid scary scenes at Southampton
Leeds United have seen their promotion battle take an unexpected twist after the Southampton game against Preston has been postponed.
The Saints announced on their website that the fixture, which was due to take place on Wednesday (6 March), has been called off after a large fire broke out in a building next to St Mary’s Stadium.
It added that the incident has caused “significant disruption” in the are surrounding the ground and road closures are in place as fire crews continue to deal with the situation.
The news will have come as a blow for Southampton as they would have been hoping to narrow the gap to the sides above them after Leeds, Leicester City and Ipswich Town all won on Tuesday (5 March).
They currently sit six points behind the third-placed Whites, while the top two are six and 11 points ahead of them in the promotion race.
Russell Martin’s side suffered a minor blip when they lost two games in a row, but they returned to winning ways with a dramatic 4-3 victory over Birmingham City on 2 March.
While there will be disappointment at the fact they won’t be able to respond to their promotion rivals’ success on Tuesday, everyone at the club will just be hoping all those involved are safe and well following the incident.
The race for a top-two spot is almost certainly down to four teams, with fifth-place West Brom currently 19 points behind Ipswich.
While whoever does miss out on an automatic promotion place will fancy their chances of still going up, everyone knows the playoffs are a lottery and your league position largely goes out of the window.
Daniel Farke will be keen to ensure that his side get the job done before the regular season comes to a close after they have been in great form so far during this calendar year.
Having dropped points in the West Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield Town on 2 March, the Whites returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Stoke City on Tuesday.
They will be hoping to record another win when they face Sheffield Wednesday on Friday (8 March) as they look to at least temporarily take up a spot in the top two in their bid for promotion.
In other Leeds United news, a Sky Sports pundit has raged over a controversial incident in the Whites game against Stoke City.
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