Captain of Leeds United's promotion rivals could miss crucial run-in as three-game suspension risk assessed

Ipswich Town are facing the prospect of being without captain Sam Morsy for up to three Championship matches with the midfielder closing in on 15 yellow cards.

Morsy picked up his 13th booking of the league campaign during Ipswich's dramatic 3-2 win over Southampton on Saturday, following a late challenge on Flynn Downes after just 16 minutes. The midfielder continued to snap into challenges but avoided any further punishment as his side won it late through Jeremy Sarmiento.

That victory sent Kieran McKenna's side top of the table with just six games remaining and Leeds United's 3-1 win at home to Hull City later that evening saw the gap return to just one point, with Leicester City in third. Every game is crucial at this point of the season but Ipswich could feasibly be without their captain for a large portion of the remaining fixtures.

EFL rules state that any player who accrues 15 yellow cards in a season will serve a three-game suspension. An important point to note is that there is no cut off date for this tally, as there is with bans for receiving five or 10 yellow cards - both of which Morsy has served, incidentally.

Ipswich face fierce rivals Norwich City on Saturday before the midweek visit of Watford to Portman Road. Should Morsy see yellow in each of those, then he will miss games against Middlesbrough, Hull City and Coventry City which would present a major issue for McKenna.

The Egyptian international has only sat out four Championship matches this season, all of which have been due to suspension. Those games have been against Huddersfield Town, QPR, Leicester City and Sunderland with Ipswich only winning against the latter and taking five points from a possible 12.

The Tractor Boys host Huddersfield on the final day of the season and Morsy would miss that game if he receives his 15th yellow card against Middlesbrough or later. Suspensions also carry through to the play-offs, albeit their participation in the knockout finals would likely mean Leeds have gone up automatically anyway.

Morsy is the only player at Ipswich with a realistic chance of reaching the 15 yellow card milestone and thus missing key fixtures - Massimo Luongo would need to get booked in every remaining game in order to be suspended for the play-offs. At Leicester, Jannik Vestergaard is currently on 11 yellow cards while no one at Leeds United is above eight.