Ipswich Town dealt major promotion boost after Leeds, Leicester, Southampton injury news: View | OneFootball

The Championship automatic promotion race is heating up.

Ipswich Town may be at the top of the table at the moment, but that could change at the weekend with Leicester City and Leeds United on their tail.

In truth, all three sides have stuttered in recent times and this has allowed Southampton to climb back into the automatic promotion race, with Russell Martin's side arguably hitting top form at the right time.

It promises to be a fascinating automatic promotion battle with Leeds and the Saints even facing each other on the final day of the season.

Despite being top of the table, Ipswich wouldn't have been viewed as promotion contenders before the start of the campaign, having only been promoted from League One last year.

But injuries could allow them to retain their place in the top two and secure automatic promotion in a couple of weeks.

Nobody, including Kieran McKenna, will take much pleasure from injuries to players belonging to Ipswich's promotion rivals.

He knows how it feels to have a key player out of action with Wes Burns being sidelined in recent weeks.

But injury setbacks could make all the difference in this race for Premier League football.

Starting with Leeds, Connor Roberts will miss the next two games after sustaining a muscle issue.

The Welshman may not have started regularly for Daniel Farke since arriving on loan during the January window, but his equaliser against Leicester at Elland Road reinforces how much of an asset he can be going forward, as well as how important he is defensively.

Also, having promotion pedigree, securing a top-tier return with Burnley at the end of last term, he knows what it takes to win automatic promotion and his voice on the pitch could have been very useful in the next couple of games.

Pascal Struijk is , which isn't ideal for the Whites considering he was an important figure in central defence.

Leicester, meanwhile, could be without Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ricardo Pereira and Jamie Vardy for their clash against West Bromwich Albion this weekend.

Vardy's replacement, Patson Daka, hasn't impressed recently and has missed some good chances.

Pereira is another player who is valued by the supporters and Dewsbury-Hall has arguably been the Foxes' most important player this season with 12 goals and 14 assists in 46 competitive appearances.

The midfielder richly deserves to be in the top tier next season, regardless of whether his team are promoted or not. Not having him would be a major blow for manager Enzo Maresca, who is already under pressure from fans due to recent results.

Dewsbury-Hall's potential absence and recent pressure could be a disastrous cocktail for Leicester, who were previously in such a strong position but have capitulated spectacularly since.

And for the Saints, they have learned that their first-choice shot-stopper Gavin Bazunu will be on the sidelines for around nine or ten months.

Bazunu has been criticised at times this term, but he has been trusted by Russell Martin and is an integral part of his team's style.

Alex McCarthy and Joe Lumley can fill in, but the former hasn't played very much this season and may need time to get back up to speed. The latter, meanwhile, was a regular starter at Reading last term but didn't impress some of the Royals' supporters.

It's also fair to say that Republic of Ireland international Bazunu has more room to grow considering he's only 22, but the same probably couldn't be said about McCarthy and Lumley.

Ipswich Town can capitalise on these injury woes in their remaining fixtures

Looking at the table higher up in this piece, it's clear that automatic promotion is in their own hands.

Leicester can still overtake them with their game in hand, but the Tractor Boys have played the same number of games as Leeds and are two points ahead of Farke's side.

It's clear that McKenna's men have some difficult games coming up, with Hull City opponents on April 27th.

Liam Rosenior's side still have plenty to play for and are in the mix for a play-off spot. Because they have something to play for though and need to keep scoring to put points on the board, that could allow the Tractor Boys to exploit gaps in the Tigers' defence and be ruthless, something they have the ability to do.

It's also worth mentioning that they have a period of time off before this clash at the MKM Stadium, which should help to enhance their performance levels on the day.

They then travel to Coventry City, who may be out or all but out of the play-off race by the time Ipswich face them, if Norwich City and West Brom can register a respectable number of points between now and then.

Mark Robins' side haven't been in the best form in recent times either, losing three of their last four league games, so this is a winnable game for Ipswich despite this appearing to be a tough clash at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

And on the final day of the campaign, they take on Huddersfield Town with the home crowd behind them at Portman Road. Even though the Terriers may have something to play for that day, as they look to escape the drop, this is a game the Tractor Boys should be winning.

The remaining games they have aren't the easiest, but they have the potential to pick up nine points from a possible nine and capitalise on the injuries that their rivals have suffered.