Key defender in Leeds United promotion picture running two-game suspension risk as 'pedestrian' concern raised

Leeds United's promotion rivals on the south coast trail the table-topping Whites by nine points but have two games in hand on Daniel Farke's men, meaning the gap could be trimmed to three points over the next couple of weeks.

The Saints have seen fixtures against Leicester City and Preston North End rescheduled due to the former's participation in the FA Cup quarter-final and a freak incident adjacent to St. Mary's Stadium where a fire broke out at an industrial unit, forcing the postponement of their fixture against the latter.

As a result, the team are yet to reach the 38-game mark, which also happens to be the cut-off point for suspensions after accumulating ten yellow cards. Leicester defender Jannik Vestergaard recently served a two-match ban for picking up his tenth booking of the league season, and Polish international Bednarek could be next, if he goes into the referee's notebook against Middlesbrough this weekend.

The 27-year-old is on nine cautions and will be hit with a two-game suspension - for matches against promotion rivals Ipswich Town and Blackburn Rovers - if he picks up another yellow on Good Friday.

In the interim, Bednarek is expected to start against Leeds' Welsh quartet in Tuesday evening's one-legged UEFA Euro 2024 play-off final, to decide whether Wales or Poland book their place at this summer's tournament in Germany. According to reporters close to the Welsh camp, Polish journalists have aired concerns over Bednarek's lack of pace and fear the likes of Leeds speedster Dan James exploiting that particular chink in the Pole's armour to Wales' benefit.

PA reporter Phil Blanche tweeted ahead of the fixture: "Polish journalists really gave Jan Bednarek hard time at [Poland] press conference yesterday. Big fear among them Wales’ pace will hurt what they see as pedestrian defence."

Bednarek and Southampton will visit Elland Road on the final day of the 2023/24 Championship season in what could be a hugely consequential fixture in deciding the two automatic promotion places. As for Leeds players walking the suspension tightrope, none of Daniel Farke's squad are at risk having already passed the 38-game threshold with Ethan Ampadu the player with most cautions on eight for the season.