Jamie Carragher makes prediction involving Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton | OneFootball

The race for automatic promotion is hotting up, with Leicester City losing the last three games in the league, perhaps opening the door up to the chasing pack of Leeds United, Southampton, and Ipswich Town.

The Championship automatic promotion race is to be one of the most intense and hotly contested in many years with the standard being set at the top of the table at an all-time high.

Daniel Farke's side have won 11 of 14 games in all competitions in 2024, including nine consecutive league wins, following a tricky spell during the festive period where they won just once in five games.

The pace being set by Leeds in particular of late has been ferocious, and has dragged Leicester back into the mix following three consecutive defeats for the Foxes, including a 3-1 defeat at Elland Road.

Meanwhile, Ipswich needed to improve in recent weeks, having dropped off the pace through January and the beginning of February, and have themselves recorded five wins on the spin. However, Southampton have lost four of the last six games, allowing Ipswich and Leeds to overtake them, but are not out of sight after a crucial late win over Birmingham City this weekend.

There are bound to be many more twists and turns before the end of the season, and the spot in second could easily change hands multiple times between the three clubs involved. However, Leicester are potentially also in the mix after their poor form.

The question of who will secure the big prize and promotion to the top-flight will likely be asked many times between now and the end of the season, and various pundits have already begun to have their say.

Jamie Carragher provides Premier League promotion and relegation verdict

Jamie Carragher spoke on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football show about the chances of survival for the three most recently promoted clubs in the Premier League, and expects them all to be relegated, with each of the sides they replaced to bounce back up from the Championship at the first time of asking.

"In all honesty, I think Luton have been absolutely fantastic this season, because I feared that Luton would be doing exactly what Sheffield United and Burnley are doing.

"It's almost felt like, for the majority of the season, we’ve had three Championship clubs in the Premier League and the Championship has got three Premier League clubs.

"And I think those three clubs are going to come back, and these three will probably drop down, but credit to Luton; I think they've been absolutely fantastic and are going to make a right fist of it."

Championship promotion chasers

Given how tight it is at the top, it's impossible to rule Ipswich out, and the chances are that it will go right down to the wire in the second tier, all the way up until the final game for some of the sides involved.

However, the three sides occupying the relegation zone in the Premier League also highlight how easy it is to get things wrong in the summer and that the financial gaps are becoming insurmountable between English football's first and second tier to a large extent.

For whichever three clubs, the money involved in getting promoted could be of benefit for years to come, particularly in the case of Ipswich.