Looking down on the other 23 teams in the Championship, new leaders Ipswich Town host another Premier League-chasing outfit in Southampton at Portman Road on Monday.
The Tractor Boys rode their luck against Blackburn Rovers but ultimately emerged triumphant by a goal to nil on Good Friday, while their visitors made do with a point against Middlesbrough.
Match preview
By virtue of surviving three disallowed goals from their relegation-threatened hosts and capitalising on a goalkeeping clanger from Aynsley Pears, Ipswich made their Good Friday a great one, rising to the summit of the second-tier standings at Ewood Park.
Conor Chaplin had the decisive contribution, firing a low ninth-minute strike which Pears failed to get behind and inadvertently diverted into his own net, although his opposite number Vaclav Hladky was almost the architect of Ipswich's downfall in the second period.
However, the Tractor Boys stopper immediately went from zero to hero, making an exceptional close-range save from Sammie Szmodics after being caught in possession inside his own box, ensuring that Ipswich would spend the Easter weekend in first place in the Championship table.
Benefitting from Leeds United's draw with Watford and Leicester City's latest loss to Bristol City, Kieran McKenna's men are one point better off than the Whites and are two clear of the faltering Foxes, although Enzo Maresca's side still have a game in hand, meaning that Ipswich's title fate does not rest solely on them.
Nevertheless, Monday's hosts are doing their bit to upset the top-two apple cart with a stellar run of eight wins from their last nine Championship matches, including each of their last four at Portman Road, during which they have scored at least three times in all of those goal-laden triumphs.
Ipswich's 4-3 beating of Rotherham United and 3-2 win over Bristol City in that sequence were not totally convincing, though, and Southampton head to Suffolk with their own dreams of cracking the Championship's top two, even if their hopes are far more fanciful at this point.
After ending February with a humbling four defeats from five games in all tournaments, seeing their astonishing 25-game unbeaten streak crash and burn in the process, Russell Martin's men have rediscovered their old ways to take seven points from a possible nine during their Championship affairs in March.
Absorbing wins over Birmingham City (4-3) and Sunderland (4-2) before the international break preceded a more lowkey stalemate with Middlesbrough on Good Friday, where Adam Armstrong's early effort would ostensibly prove decisive, only for Emmanuel Latte Lath to pop up with a 90th-minute leveller.
An apoplectic Martin rued his side's inability to make their chances count as they remained nine points adrift of Leeds in fourth place, but they are comfortably seven clear of West Bromwich Albion with two matches in hand and boast an advantage of 14 over seventh-placed Coventry City.
However, Latte Lath's late intervention stretched the Saints' run without a clean sheet in all tournaments to six games, and their eight-game unbeaten run against Ipswich was broken during September's clash at St Mary's, where Chelsea-owned Omari Hutchinson scored the only goal.
Team News
Whether Hutchinson will have the chance to replicate his previous match-winning feats against Southampton remains to be seen, as the ex-Arsenal product was forced off in injury time during Friday's win over Blackburn, although he is not thought to have picked up anything severe.
On the other hand, fellow attacker Wes Burns is definitely missing as he battles back from his hamstring injury, while George Hirst (muscle) is also out of contention, but Chaplin shook off a niggle in time to start and come up with the crucial contribution at Ewood Park.
Midfielder Lewis Travis is also back at McKenna's disposal - the Blackburn loanee could not face his parent club last time out - but the Tractor Boys boss should stick with the familiar pairing of Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo for now.
As far as Southampton are concerned, Ross Stewart (muscle) and Juan Larios (hamstring) are still in the care of the medical team, although Martin confirmed before the draw with Boro that both men are making positive steps in their recoveries.
All of Jan Bednarek, Ryan Fraser, David Brooks and Kyle Walker-Peters were given the green light to make the squad on Good Friday as well, but only the latter made the starting lineup, while Bednarek was an unused substitute after being forced off in Poland's Euro 2024 playoff final win over Brooks's Wales.
The latter and Fraser were both summoned for second-half cameos, though, and Brooks - who has directly contributed to five goals in nine Championship games since joining on loan from Bournemouth - could potentially threaten Kamaldeen Sulemana's spot in attack.
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Hladky; Tuanzebe, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Davis; Luongo, Morsy; Sarmiento, Chaplin, Broadhead; Moore
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Bazunu; Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning; S. Armstrong, Downes, Smallbone; Brooks, Adams, A. Armstrong
We say: Ipswich Town 2-2 Southampton
As ruthless as Ipswich have been in front of goal at Portman Road, the Championship leaders are prone to a defensive collapse in front of their own fans, music to the ears of a free-scoring Southampton unit.
However, with Martin's men also struggling for clean sheets in the second tier, the victory that the visitors crave may elude them, and a high-scoring stalemate could be on the cards here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
