Danny Murphy predicts Southampton blow in Leicester City and Leeds United promotion race | OneFootball

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has tipped Southampton to miss out on automatic promotion at the end of this term, making his predictions on talkSPORT.

The race for the top two has heated up in recent weeks, largely thanks to Leeds United's unbeaten league run, Ipswich Town's recovery following a tricky period and Leicester City's drop-off in form.

At this stage, Leicester and Ipswich are both on course to be promoted to the Premier League, with the former set to return at the first time of asking and the latter having a chance of registering back-to-back promotions.

However, Leeds and the Saints can't be ruled out at this stage, especially the Whites who have been in excellent form under Daniel Farke in 2024 and have the necessary quality and depth to overtake the Tractor Boys at some point.

But Kieran McKenna's side have done an excellent job and were very consistent earlier in the season, which has helped to guide them to where they are.

Yesterday, the Saints had the chance to keep up the pressure on the top three, but a fire next to St Mary's meant their clash against Preston North End was postponed.

This was a setback for them - and this fixture will now be rearranged.

What effect on the Saints that will have remains to be seen, but they are more points adrift of the top three than they would want to be at the moment, with the season drawing to a close.

Danny Murphy predicts who will be promoted from the Championship

Leicester are the team that Murphy is certain will be promoted, despite their recent form.

A win against Sunderland on Tuesday evening helped the Foxes' cause though - and Leeds or Ipswich have been tipped to finish in the top two with them - with the Saints potentially missing out.

Speaking on talkSPORT yesterday (via MOT Leeds News), Murphy said: "In two of the three games that I saw, the Leeds game was unbelievable.

"They actually played really well and made a hat-full of chances.

"I think they [Leicester City] will get over the line, then it’s between Leeds and Ipswich [Town]. I was rooting for Leeds against Leicester the other week because I’ve got a little soft spot for them."

Southampton are up against it in the race for the top two now

The Saints suffered a blow yesterday in their quest for promotion.

They may not have dropped points, but the postponed game means they face an extra game in their schedule.

The most important thing is people's safety, but on the football side of things, Russell Martin will be gutted that his team were unable to close the gap between themselves and the top three.

With all three of their promotion rivals winning too, this has put extra pressure on the Saints.