Championship roundup: Harrison and Jansson take Leeds back to summit

The constant shifting at the top of the Championship shows no sign of abating after Leeds returned to the top with a 2-1 win over Swansea at Elland Road.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side had leapfrogged Norwich at the summit on Saturday after their draw at Middlesbrough, only to see the Canaries skip past them again with a win over Ipswich Town on Sunday.

But Leeds took pole position once more after first-half goals from Pontus Jansson and Jack Harrison secured victory over mid-table Swansea, though they had to endure a nervy finish after Oliver McBurnie’s 87th-minute penalty for the visitors.

“It’s hard to understand why we only won by one goal because we dominated the game and had many chances to score,” said Bielsa. “When we win the game we can wait for the next game with serenity.”

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Norwich, meanwhile, slipped to a surprise 3-1 defeat against Preston. Ben Davies, Paul Gallagher and Sean Maguire put the home side in a commanding position before Teemu Pukki scored a late consolation for Daniel Farke’s side.

Third-placed Sheffield United, who would have gone top on Friday had they held on to a 3-0 lead at Aston Villa, closed the gap on Norwich with Richard Stearman scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough, who had Daniel Ayala sent off in the second half. “It’s been a really difficult couple of days,” said the United manager, Chris Wilder. “We felt we had to produce a big performance.”

Play-off chasing Derby were held to a 1-1 draw at the bottom club at Ipswich, Jon Nolan cancelling out Tom Lawrence’s early strike for the Rams, and Aston Villa’s slim hopes of a top-six finish are fading after a 1-0 defeat at Brentford, thanks to Neal Maupay’s last-minute goal.

Wigan continue to edge away from the relegation zone after a 0-0 draw against Stoke but the big winners at the bottom were Reading who surged out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win over Blackburn. Nelson Oliveira, playing in a mask after the facial injuries suffered against Villa this month, scored the late winner.