Leeds United boost as automatic promotion rivals suffer huge setback via big twist

Leeds United have received a welcome boost with a huge setback for an automatic promotion rival via a big twist.

Daniel Farke’s Whites began Saturday sat third in the table, just one point behind second-placed Leicester City and three points ahead of fourth-placed Southampton but having played one game more than both sides.

With Leeds not playing until Monday night at Middlesbrough, Leicester and Southampton effectively caught up on the games played front with fixtures on Saturday afternoon.

Leicester went first with a lunchtime kick-off at home to West Brom in which Enzo Maresca’s side eventually recorded a 2-1 victory to move top of the table, two points clear of Leicester and four points ahead of Leeds, with all three teams having three games left.

Southampton then took on hosts Cardiff City in a 3pm kick-off, knowing that a victory would draw them level with Leeds on 87 points - behind the Whites on goal difference but with a trip to Elland Road in store on the final day of the season.

As such, Southampton’s destiny to finish above Leeds remained in their own hands. Russell Martin’s side kicked off at Cardiff having won their last four games and another victory looked imminent as Joe Aribo fired the Saints into a 12th-minute lead.

Cardiff, though, served up a huge twist by equalising in the 68th-minute through Famara Diédhiou before bagging what proved a 96th-minute winner through Cian Ashford.

The 2-1 defeat for Southampton has left them three points behind Leeds and now on the same amount of games played ahead of a trip to leaders Leicester on Tuesday night.