The 2024/25 Premier League season is slowly starting to take shape as we approach the end of the current season. It was confirmed on Thursday that the next season will start on Saturday, August 17 and conclude on Sunday, May 25.
The Premier League also announced there will be no mid-season break next season and no league match on Christmas Eve after a controversial change to this season’s fixtures. Just over 24 hours after that announcement came confirmation that the first Championship team had earned promotion to the Premier League.
After their surprising relegation eleven months ago, Leicester City has recovered after the first time under the leadership of head coach Enzo Maresca. The Foxes were in front for the vast majority of the season until they suffered a late scare in recent weeks. The Foxes’ promotion was confirmed on Friday evening following Leeds United’s 4-0 humiliation at relegation-threatened QPR.
Leicester return to the pitch on Monday evening when they visit Preston North End and have the chance to wrap up the Championship title in their final two games of the season as their fate remains largely in their own hands. Ipswich Town, currently in third place, are currently five points behind the East Midlands club with a game in hand, but they would need their rivals to drop points in their next two games to have any chance on the title.
Leicester’s promotion does mean there will be a number of reunions next season when Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham side face the Foxes. In the first, Harry Winks will face Tottenham for the first time since leaving his boyhood club last July.
In and out of the team prior to his departure from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the midfielder has had the opportunity to play for Leicester week in, week out and has gone on to play a crucial role for his new side in the middle of the park. The 28-year-old, who has started 43 of his 44 games this season and has only been absent from the matchday squad once, has scored two crucial goals for his side this season and has proven to be a fine addition to Leicester. helped them regain their Premier League status.
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While Winks left Tottenham for Leicester almost ten months ago, James Maddison went in the opposite direction when he signed a long-term contract with Spurs. The England international was an influential figure in the early months of 2023/24 before his season was unfortunately temporarily halted due to injury. The England international has struggled to recapture his form since his return, but he will be looking to do so in the rest of the competition. the season in which the Lilywhites look to secure Champions League football.
Maddison has been a crucial figure for Leicester in his five seasons with the Foxes, having contributed many goals and assists. Maddison will be looking to return to the King Power Stadium in the 2024/25 Premier League season. Tottenham’s return to action against Leicester City as a Premier League match will also mean a lot more goals and drama, with 28 goals scored in the last five meetings between the teams.
Leicester’s return to the promised land could potentially impact another Tottenham player this summer. Joe Rodon wants to follow in Leicester’s footsteps by winning promotion to the Premier League with Leeds United. However, the West Yorkshire club may now have to do this via the play-offs after their 4-0 defeat at QPR opened the door for Ipswich to take full advantage.
The Tractor Boys are currently one point behind Leeds in the Championship, but they crucially have two games in hand against their promotion rivals. The first of those two games takes place on Saturday evening as Ipswich travel to the play-offs chasing Hull City, with their next game against Coventry City in midweek.
Two incredibly tough games for Ipswich, with maximum points taken from both, would seal a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2002 and ensure the battle for automatic promotion does not drag on to the final day. Rodon and Leeds will be hoping that Ipswich makes a mistake next week that could see them return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Leeds will certainly want to avoid the play-offs due to their dismal record in the league at the end of the season. Leeds were defeated in the first ever edition of the play-offs against Charlton Athletic in 1987 and went on to lose the 2006 Championship play-off final and the 2008 League One play-off final to Watford and Doncaster Rovers respectively.
They failed to reach the final in 2009 after losing to Millwall in the semi-final, before Derby County inflicted further misery on them in a Championship play-off semi-final classic at Elland Road a decade later. If it is to be another play-off finish for Leeds, they will hope it is sixth time lucky that a Premier League place is up for grabs.
As for Rodon’s long-term future, the Wales international has been a colossal figure at the back for the West Yorkshire club this season and everyone associated with Leeds is desperate for the centre-back to make his loan deal permanent . That could be a transfer that will be easier for Leeds to complete once they are a Premier League team again, as a second consecutive season in the Championship could raise questions about a permanent Elland Road transfer for Rodon, especially as better offers may be available could come onto the market. table.
With the 26-year-old having been such a crucial figure in his team’s promotion, Rodon should have plenty of transfer interest anyway as he is clearly not part of Postecoglou’s long-term thinking at Tottenham. The coming weeks will be crucial for Rodon and Leeds as they look to gain promotion to the Premier League alongside Leicester City.
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