Southampton secured Premier League promotion via the play-off final after being relegated to the Championship last year.
Adam Armstrong's cool and collected finished saw the Saints beat Leeds United 1-0 in their win at Wembley, boosting the club back to Premier League heights. Despite Leeds United dominating the game in terms of possession and other attacking statistics, Southampton stood defensively solid, stopping players such as EFL player of the year Crysencio Summerville and super sub Dan James from scoring.
For Leeds United this is heartbreak. The northern club missed out on automatic promotion due to dropping points in vital games, one most notably in their fixture against Queens Park Rangers who at the time were likely to be relegated. In fact, that game was able to secure Leicester City a top two finish and soon after the foxes won the Championship, adding insult to injury.
Daniel Farke's side looked uninspiring in the play-off final, their final balls, set pieces and their ability to break down Southampton overall was poor. Their lack of success reflects their poor record against the Saints this season, an extension of Farke's record against the club which is now five defeats from five. This now marks the sixth time in which Leeds United have failed to be promoted when entering the playoffs route; they have never won a play-off final.
Southampton now join Leicester City and Ipswich Town in the Premier League and have shown themselves to be worthy of promotion. All previously promoted teams from last season that being: Luton Town, Burnley & Sheffield United, were all relegated back to the Championship as they failed to compete at the high level the Premier league demands.
As for Leeds, it is back to the drawing board. After accumulating 90 points in the league this season they became the first second tier division side since Sunderland to not be automatically promoted despite scoring 90 or more points; in fact the black cats also lost the playoff final.
But not even a 26-year-old record can summarise just how heartbreaking this is for Leeds. Losing a play-off final is devastating enough, but knowing they had automatic promotion in their own hands and threw it away will make it hurt even more.
It's now all about regrouping for next season and pushing to do what Southampton managed at the first attempt; return to the Premier League.
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