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QPR seal Championship survival and Leicester promoted to Premier League as R's thrash Leeds

QPR seal Championship survival and Leicester promoted to Premier League as R's thrash Leeds

Queens Park Rangers guaranteed Championship football for another season with a resounding 4-0 win over Leeds on Friday night, which sent Leicester back to the Premier League.

A poor start to the season saw the R’s dismiss manager Gareth Ainsworth in October while mired in the relegation zone.

However, Marti Cifuentes has guided them clear with a seventh win in their last 13 games ensuring they put up a seven-point buffer on the dropzone to kick off this weekend’s penultimate round of fixtures.

Ilias Chair curled home the opener just eight minutes in and Loftus Road erupted soon after when Lucas Andersen was gifted time and space in the box to pick his spot and make it two.

Leeds barely got going in what was a must-win game yet did threaten on occasion.

QPR nevertheless secured the points with a Lyndon Dykes header 17 minutes from time before Sam Field’s close-range effort rounded off a fine night for the west Londoners.

Defeat for the Whites also meant promotion for Leicester with two games to spare.

The runaway leaders for much of the season, a wobbly patch of form since mid-February had threatened the Foxes’ immediate return to the top flight.

Ipswich will hope to join them with two games in hand over Leeds, currently sat in third place and a point behind Daniel Farke’s side.

They face Hull and Coventry away from home in the coming days before rounding off at home to 23rd-placed Huddersfield. Leeds host Southampton, who sit fourth, in the final round of games next Sunday before an increasingly likely play-off campaign.

Leicester will attempt to seal the title in their final games, against Preston and Blackburn.