Leicester are a win from clinching automatic promotion after a hat-trick from Abdul Fatawu plus goals from Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy in a 5-0 home thrashing of Southampton, whose top-two hopes were effectively ended.

The Foxes, relegated last season, can confirm an instant Premier League return by winning at Preston on Monday or, failing that, at home to Blackburn on the final day.

Elevation could even come quicker than that if second-placed Leeds lose at QPR on Friday.

Leicester are now four points clear of Leeds with both sides having two games remaining. They are also five points in front of Ipswich, who have three games still to play.

Saints remain six points behind Leeds – their final-day opponents – but only the most optimistic of fans are expecting anything other than play-off qualification, particularly with their goal difference now inferior by 19.

Fatawu broke the deadlock in the 25th minute. Wout Faes challenged Saints striker Che Adams near the halfway line and as both men fell to the ground referee Robert Madley waved for play to continue, allowing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to send Fatawu goalwards.

The winger might have been offside but no flag was raised and he evaded Kyle Walker-Peters to slot beyond McCarthy and celebrate with an acrobatic flip. Saints manager Russell Martin was unhappy, complaining to the fourth official that Adams had been fouled.

Martin’s mood did not improve when Joe Rothwell had to go off five minutes before the break, with Will Smallbone replacing him.

Saints appealed in vain for a penalty early in the second half when David Brooks went down as James Justin challenged but the visitors were already looking more dangerous.

Fatawu was off target with a speculative effort but Leicester doubled their lead in the 62nd minute through Ndidi. Stephy Mavididi supplied the cross from the edge of the box on the left and the midfielder came charging in to head past Alex McCarthy from close range.

Victory was confirmed in the 75th minute when man-of-the-match Fatawu conjured up the best goal of the night. The winger accepted a pass from substitute Hamza Choudhury, cut in at pace from the right and unleashed an unstoppable shot across and beyond McCarthy.

Saints subsided and Vardy competed the rout in the 79th minute, clipping first-time past McCarthy with Fatawu this time the supplier.

Fatawu claimed the match ball in the 81st minute when a slick passing move saw Vardy tee him up for another shot beyond McCarthy.

Rotherham boss Matt Taylor has revealed referees chief Howard Webb and match referee Robert Madley visited him in his office to apologise for a decision that went against the Millers in their 2-2 draw with Blackburn on Saturday.

Webb, head of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), went to the club along with head of Championship referees Kevin Friend and Madley to discuss the incidents in the match.

Rotherham were leading 2-0 when Fred Onyedinma was sent off for picking up two yellow cards in the space of three minutes, the first when he celebrated by the fans after scoring his side’s second goal and then for gesturing for an opponent to get booked after he had been fouled.

It has been a busy start to the season for Webb, who has been instrumental in improving communication and feedback since taking over from Mike Riley last December, as he has been dealing with the fall-out of Simon Hooper and VAR’s failure not to give Wolves a penalty against Manchester United as well as visiting other clubs around the country, including Lincoln and Barrow.

Taylor said the three-man party admitted Onyedinma should not have been booked for his celebration at the AESSEAL New York Stadium.

“In my office I was lucky to have Howard Webb, Kevin Friend and the referee from last weekend Mr Madley,” he said. “So they were all here talking through the weekend, the way it unfolded.

“The apology, which we’ve had two weeks on the bounce now, was for the first yellow card and that shouldn’t have been a yellow card. We know that, the referee knows that, everyone knows that.

“But it was given as a yellow card and the second yellow card is justified.

“I had three people in my office talking honestly and openly about how they want to improve. They’ll only improve if we’re right as well, if I improve as a manager, if my team improves in terms of their conduct and the way they work.

“The game will only get better off the back of everyone working together and the overriding feeling was that players are struggling a little bit with the changes and how strong some of the officiating has been at the moment and also the officials are struggling at the moment with their changes.”

Rotherham have fallen foul to the stricter rules brought in this season, with midfielder Cafu also sent off on the opening day of the season for a second yellow card that the PGMOL admitted should not have been given.

Taylor says the club will lobby the Football Association to change the rules so yellow cards can be appealed.

“If they’ve admitted to the mistake or owned up to the mistake then we’ve got to be able to appeal yellow cards because we can’t afford to have a player missing who shouldn’t be missing this weekend,” he said.

“The referees agreed with that, it’s not the referees, that’s not their law, that’s not their rule. They don’t want to make mistakes and they don’t want to see teams punished on a double-level basis when it does happen.”