Leeds kept up the pressure on the Championship’s top two with an impressive 2-0 win at Blackburn.
In a test of their credentials against a vibrant home side, Daniel Farke’s men passed with flying colours, and a goal in each half did the damage.
Dan James scored for the third game in succession to fire the visitors into a deserved lead and with Blackburn searching for an equaliser, Crysencio Summerville’s dinked finish 15 minutes from time sealed the points.
Even more impressive is that they limited Rovers to precious few chances, with Illan Meslier denying Arnor Sigurdsson late on.
The victory is Leeds’ sixth in the last seven and the league’s form side are well placed to pounce, should Ipswich or Leicester slip up.
It is a fifth home defeat in seven for Blackburn, who are still well placed for a play-off push but their Ewood form is a concern.
The hosts started brightly without testing Meslier but Leeds were soon into their stride, with Summerville lashing wide when a corner was cleared to him. They went closer in the 18th minute when Joel Piroe’s 20-yard free-kick took a wicked deflection but landed just wide of the right post, much to Blackburn’s relief.
Leeds spurned a glorious chance when Summerville dispossessed Hayden Carter and the ball found Georginio Rutter six yards out but he clipped the ball wide with the goalkeeper to beat.
He made amends in the 27th minute when he powered forward and shrugged off James Hill before finding James on the right who drilled the ball unerringly into the bottom left corner for his seventh of the season.
James flashed an inviting ball across the face of goal soon after, but Rutter could not get on the end of it, while at the other end, Sammie Szmodics headed over a Hill cross.
Blackburn wanted a penalty just after the restart when Andrew Moran’s cross struck Pascal Struijk’s arm but Bobby Madley waved the protests away. From the resulting corner, Szmodics fired wide when the ball felt to him 25 yards out.
But Leeds carried an almighty threat on the break and Wilfried Gnonto was denied a 73rd-minute goal thanks to an outstanding piece of goalkeeping from Leo Wahlstedt who brilliantly tipped his powerful strike over after it took a deflection.
The reprieve was brief as Leeds sealed victory in the 75th minute with a flowing move that saw Archie Gray exchange passes with Rutter before his first-time ball found Summerville in the area and he was coolness personified, lifting the ball over Wahlstedt.
Meslier made a tremendous save moments later, tipping Sigurdsson’s header over, but Leeds comfortably saw the game out, sending the 7,500 travelling fans home happy.
'It's here to stay' – Postecoglou jokes he's moving to Sweden to escape VAR
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has joked he may move to Sweden in order to escape VAR, claiming it has changed English football for the worse.
Plans to introduce VAR to the Swedish Allsvenskan – the country's top tier – have been dropped amid fierce opposition from clubs and supporters.
The use of VAR in the Premier League has been a major talking point throughout the season, with a number of high-profile controversies undermining fan support for the technology.
Last week, Mauricio Pochettino said VAR had "damaged" the image of English football after Axel Disasi had a potential stoppage-time winner chalked off during Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.
Ahead of Thursday's meeting with Pochettino's Blues, Postecoglou was asked whether English clubs might follow the lead of their Swedish counterparts.
"I'm moving there. I don't have a job, I'm just moving there," Postecoglou joked, before adding: "Yeah, it's here to stay, absolutely. It's not going away.
"I'd change a hell of a lot on it, but I've said that before. I think it's changed the game materially, which I don't think was the intention when it was brought in."
Postecoglou also seemed to suggest the application of VAR in England has been more troublesome than elsewhere, saying it had worked "seamlessly" in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final draw between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
"I watched the Champions League last night like everyone else, and if you hadn't told me VAR was part of the game I wouldn't have known," Postecoglou added.
"I'm sure they had decisions to make but it seemed to work pretty seamlessly.
"Like I said, we're trying to pick the bones out of every little thing that happens in a football game at the moment – whether that's the referee or any other part.
"I don't like it, it changes the game, it changes the game experience whether you're involved or not as an active spectator. Hopefully they'll find the right sort of ground for it to work."
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
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