Marc Albrighton makes big Ipswich Town call ahead of Leeds United | OneFootball

Marc Albrighton has predicted Ipswich Town to beat out Leeds United, and get automatically promoted to the Premier League alongside Leicester City.

The Championship promotion race is nearing its end. Leicester have the chance to seal their return to the Premier League this weekend, if Leeds United lose tonight, or if they beat Preston North End on Saturday.

Ipswich still have control over their destiny. By the time they play Hull City on Saturday night, they may be four points off the top two.

But their two games in hand on the Whites means that they can retake second place with two victories in those spare matches.

It wouldn't have been a three-horse race were it not for Leicester's calamitous run. They lost six games in less than two months, having only lost four games all season prior to the defeat to Middlesbrough which started the downfall.

Southampton could have made it a four-way battle if they'd have taken points from some of their recent games against the rest of the top four, but they have limited themselves to a play-off spot after a 5-0 loss to the Foxes last time out.

Albrighton, who has spent close to a decade with the Foxes, has weighed in on who he thinks will finish in the top two.

Marc Albrighton's Leicester, Leeds and Ipswich promotion prediction

The midfielder sees Kieran McKenna's side being the ones to join Leicester in the top two, come the end of the season.

Speaking on talkSPORT, the veteran was asked by Andy Goldstein who he felt would be going up with his side. After giving a a cheeky nod to the camera, Albrighton said: "Ipswich. I genuinely believe Ipswich, and they deserve to as well.

"They've been fantastic," added the 34-year-old. "Some of the late goals that they've scored, their never-die attitude has been incredible, and I just see them getting over the line."

The midfielder also spoke about the difference that having the likes of himself and Jamie Vardy - two Premier League title winners - can have on the team at this crunch point of the season.

He said: "We've got myself, Vards, Conor Coady is in there. But even some of the younger lads as well. People like Hamza Choudhury are really mature and experienced for his age. He's mature in the way he conducts himself around the place.

"But I think the impact that we can have is basically just don't let the young lads get carried away. Obviously Abdul [Fatawu] scored a hat-trick the other night.

"But he needs to make sure now that the next game he is on it, and not thinking about his hat-trick. So I think that's our job and that's where we come in."

Ipswich winning promotion over Leeds would be a better thing for football

Those with no affiliation or distaste towards Leeds or the Tractor Boys will almost certainly lean in favour of the East Anglian side if asked which of the two they would like to see promoted.

The Premier League, and the hollowed ground that it is claimed to be, is starting to feel like a bit of a closed shop.

Manchester City have won five of the last six titles, and there's a good chance that all of the teams who were promoted from the second tier last season could end up being relegated, and all the relegated Premier League teams could come straight back up.

The dominance at the top isn't so unusual; Manchester United ruled the land for a very long time under Sir Alex Ferguson. But the repetitiveness at the bottom is concerning.

Yo-yo teams have become more of a thing, with the likes of Norwich City and Fulham being labelled with that tag in the past.

What fans don't want to see is the same 23-25 teams constantly in the top flight, and it feeling like there's little chance of outsiders getting in and staying in.

Luton Town were the most unlikely story last season, but Ipswich are giving them a right good push for that crown.

A League One team of just a year ago beating out one of the big boys to automatic promotion in their first season in the Championship; it's the stuff that fans throughout the EFL dream of.

Ipswich achieving automatic promotion shows that you don't have to have a Premier League legacy in order to get there again, and that is why all fans of the game, who don't support Leeds or Norwich City, should want Town to do it.