Leicester City smells promotion after returning to the top of the Championship thanks to Hamza Choudhury’s defensive exploits, but Enzo Maresca knows the job is far from done.
Foxes boss Maresca admitted his side had a ‘lucky’ win over West Brom, but his team now need two wins from their remaining three games to ensure a return to the Premier League.
There is a scenario where they could go up on Tuesday night if they beat Southampton at the King Power Stadium, but that depends on whether Leeds lose at Middlesbrough on Monday.
On the south coast, Russell Martin’s Midas touch against Cardiff City let the Southampton manager down just when he needed it most.
After five straight wins over the Bluebirds, Martin saw a crucial point taken away from him in dramatic fashion by Cian Ashford.
Hamza Choudhary (L) was the hero for Leicester in his side’s 2-1 win over West Brom
The Foxes star produced three goal-line clearances to help his side return to the top of the Championship
Russell Martin, meanwhile, saw his Southampton team miss an opportunity to put more pressure on the automatic promotion places
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The 19-year-old scored with a deflected long-range shot in the 96th minute, seriously undermining Saints’ automatic promotion bid. With three games to go, they are five points behind the top two.
“It’s unacceptable to lose a game with the number of chances we had,” Martin said.
‘We should have been out of sight. We played great football, but it doesn’t matter because we lost. We have to respond well now.’
Ironically, Leicester produced a less than impressive performance in a match that Albion dominated. They owed a lot to central midfielder Choudhury, who incredibly cleared the goal line three times to frustrate Carlos Corberan’s side, who wasted a series of openings.
They were punished when Wilfred Ndidi scored from close range in the 22nd minute after goalkeeper Alex Palmer could only parry Jamie Vardy’s header.
Vardy then produced a rare penalty miss after being pushed over by Conor Townsend.
It was his first misfortune from the spot this season, having previously gone four from four, when his shot rattled the post.
Albion then hit the woodwork themselves when Kyle Bartley headed against the crossbar after Choudhury, who had earlier cleared Mikey Johnston’s line, made two goal-line clearances in just a few seconds.
Martin said after his side’s 2–1 defeat to Cardiff that it was ‘unacceptable to lose a game’ given the number of chances his team created
Leicester boss Enzo Maresca, meanwhile, admitted his side were ‘lucky’ with their win
Leicester captain Jamie Vardy was back on the scoresheet and has now scored fifteen times this season
He denied Yann M’Vila and Grady Diangana before Vardy atoned for his earlier penalty miss. Choudhury found Abdul Fatawu on the right and his cross was headed home by the Foxes skipper for his 15th league goal of the season.
Albion pulled the ball back with 14 minutes to go when captain Jed Wallace finished off a brilliant through ball from Cedric Kipre.
And neither manager could believe the inspired performance of man-of-the-match Choudhury.
Maresca said: “He played as a goalkeeper occasionally. When it comes to recognizing good people, I usually do it the right way. And Hamza is probably the only man whose contract we have extended this season.
‘We appointed him one of the captains. With us, on and off the field, he has always been very good. I’ve never seen three goals from one player.
‘I told Carlos we were lucky. And he said, ‘You’ve been lucky here, but in the last two games you’ve been completely unlucky.’ We need two more wins, now we have to look at the next game. Every time you win, you see yourself closer and celebrate.
“But it’s not over yet, we have to finish the job.”
The Saints are five points clear of the automatic promotion places with three games remaining
West Brom’s play-off spot has not been secured but manager Carlos Corberan has welcomed the pressure
Two defeats in a row mean fifth-placed Albion’s play-off place is in doubt, but Corberan says he welcomes the pressure.
The Spaniard said: ‘I think it’s great, it’s excellent, we are still well placed and we will fight until the last minute of the last game to make sure we get into the play-offs because we can get us a promotion.
‘This was not a fair result, we created more chances than the best team in the division. It only counts if the ball hits the back of the net and we seemed to do anything but.”