Image source, PA Media

What. A. Day.

Leeds United and Burnley have sealed their place in the Premier League for the 2025-26 season.

With their success, it's easy to forget there is still a whole lot of other vital places to fight for in the Championship after some remarkable results today.

The teams that started the day between fourth and eighth all lost, leaving the play-off race still very much on.

Four of the bottom six also won and the survival scrap looks set to go to the wire.

Just two more games to go in the second tier, starting on Friday night when Stoke City will look to seal their safety when they welcome a Sheffield United side who will have to dust themselves down and go again.

Until then, thank you for following along with us on an a frenetic, nerve-racking, exciting, season-defining day of action.

Good night!

As today's drama (on the pitch, anyway) draws to a close, here's a look ahead to the fixtures coming up on the penultimate weekend of the Championship season:

Friday, 25 April

• Stoke v Sheffield United (20:00 BST)

Saturday, 26 April

• Luton v Coventry (12:30)
• QPR v Burnley (12:30)
• Blackburn v Watford
• Cardiff v West Bromwich Albion
• Hull City v Derby
• Middlesbrough v Norwich
• Millwall v Swansea
• Oxford v Sunderland
• Preston v Plymouth
• Sheffield Wednesday v Portsmouth

Monday, 28 April

• Leeds v Bristol City (20:00)

Image source, Rex Features

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke said he would be the "first one on the table" celebrating if Leeds won promotion today.

Speaking after his side's 6-0 demolition of Stoke City left them on the cusp of going up and during Burnley's win over Sheffield United he said: "If there is really something to celebrate believe me I will be a fire beast.

"It won't be cheesecake and coffee there will be some other drinks.

"Normally I like to speak about the next training session and to be disciplined but I will be the first on the table you can be sure."

Really not 100% sure what he means about being a fire beast but not going to question it.

Image source, Rex Features

The victory over Sheffield United on 24 February left them five points clear at the top and, with a seemingly favourable run of fixtures until the end of the campaign, promotion looked inevitable.

However, March brought just one win from five and the 2-2 draw with Swansea saw Farke drop goalkeeper Illan Meslier for Karl Darlow after the Frenchman, who had also made costly errors in draws at Sunderland and Hull City, gifted the Welsh side their first equaliser.

The German boss was then criticised by some after saying the point from the 1-1 draw at lowly Luton in the next game was a good result but it proved to be the case as the Blades totally lost their way with three successive defeats and the Whites went from third back to first and five points clear of Chris Wilder's men in third with three games to play.

Leeds players celebrated with the fans after Monday's 6-0 win over Stoke had left them on the cusp of promotion

Monday's demolition of struggling Stoke meant that, thanks to a vastly superior goal difference, a point from their final two matches would have been enough to go up but even that was not needed thanks to Burnley's win.

Farke, who had chosen not to make any further signings in the January transfer window, is now closing in on a third title at this level after winning two with Norwich.

A huge summer awaits as Leeds look to buck the worrying trend that appears set to see all of the past six teams promoted to the Premier League go straight back down.

Plans to avoid that fate will now truly begin in earnest on Tuesday but for now Farke and the Leeds fans, robbed of being able to properly celebrate their last promotion to the top flight in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, can enjoy a job well done.

Image source, Rex Features

Leeds finished third with 90 points in 2023-24 before losing to Southampton in the play-off final.

The summer saw highly-rated academy product Archie Gray sold to Tottenham, while Championship player of the season Crysencio Summerville left for West Ham. Those exits had seemed likely but the sale of talented forward Georginio Rutter to Brighton after the season had started was unexpected and unwelcome.

Still, the Whites boasted a strong squad for the level and the permanent additions of Spurs defender Joe Rodon after his loan last season, ex-Sheffield United full-back Jayden Bogle and Japan international midfielder Ao Tanaka, plus the loan signings of Joe Rothwell and Manor Solomon from Bournemouth and Tottenham respectively, all brought quality.

On the pitch the campaign started with no wins from their first three games in all competitions but they kickstarted things with a 2-0 victory at Sheffield Wednesday and scarcely looked back.

Despite a narrow home defeat by fellow promotion hopefuls Burnley on 14 September, to date their only loss at Elland Road this season, by the third international break of the season in November, Leeds had risen up to second.

After ending that month with a 1-0 home defeat at Blackburn they then went on a three-month unbeaten run in the league that included a 7-0 demolition of Cardiff and dramatic comebacks to beat top-four rivals Sunderland Sheffield United on successive Mondays in February.

Image source, Getty Images

Sheffield United's frustrations of missing out on an automatic promotion place will probably only be further compounded by these stats from Opta, which show how many days each side has spent in the Championship's top two spots this season.

It won't make for happy reading for Sunderland fans either...

• Leeds United: 144 days
• Sheffield United: 143 days
• Sunderland: 100 days
• Burnley: 76 days
• West Bromwich Albion: 31 days
• Watford: 8 days
• Sheffield Wednesday: 6 days
• Blackburn: 4 days

Sheffield United

Image source, PA Media

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"For those two teams [Leeds and Burnley] to have the ability to hit 100 points shows what the division is like, and we’re the third-best team in the division.

"The season went to the 44th game and we had a right go, and created some good chances. The goals have killed us, we conceded two poor goals - we have to do better on the clearance and the penalty hands the initiative back to them.

"We would have needed 95, 96, 97 points to go up. It’s an insane season.

"There will be some big games now. The home game [of the play-offs] at Bramall Lane will be off the scale. We’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again and we will do that.

"We want to go and get 90-odd points, that’s the target."

Burnley captain Josh Brownhill's performance in the 2-1 win over Sheffield United which has confirmed their return to Premier League epitomised his season.

The 29-year-old was all over the pitch and also came up with the two all-important goals.

That's 16 league goals for the season for Brownhill who is the club's top goalscorer and also third in the Championship golden boot race behind only Leeds United's Joel Piroe (19) and Norwich's Borja Sainz (17).

A true skipper's effort from Brownhill throughout this campaign.

Burnley

Image source, Getty Images

Burnley chairman Alan Pace speaking to Sky Sports:

"I can't say enough about the job he [Scott Parker] has done. We had a long conversation about what we wanted to do together and he's outperformed anything he could have possibly said that night.

"I can only say that he's a living legend and he's shown multiple times that he knows how to handle this league and how to bring a group of men together and accomplish great things.

"Even when there was negativity at the start of the season from others, never stopped him. He's amazing and we are so, so grateful and thankful and blessed to have him here."

David Unsworth
Former Burnley and Everton defender on BBC Radio Lancashire

I remember the first time Burnley got promoted to the top tier in a long time and it did so much for the town, it brings in so much business.

It brings so much money to not just the football club but to the area too. The players won't see that side of things.

Burnley

Image source, PA Media

Burnley boss Scott Parker speaking to Sky Sports:

"It means everything. Set on a mission at the start of this year to get promoted. Early on in the season, there was a lot of ups and downs and the journey we've been on is nothing short of incredible.

"As cliche as it sounds, I built my whole life on hard work and I try to instil that in these players.

"The main thing for me is togetherness, a group that is together and it's got us to the Premier League.

"This one feels special. I've had some bumps in the road as a manager, not to make this about me. I decided to take a year out and came back to this, I knew it would be a challenge.

"The spotlight often shines on the players and myself but the sacrifices that families make - they fully deserve it."

On the title chase: "We are going to go for it. That's the aim and that's exactly what we are going to do.

"There's two games left and we want to try and go for the title."

Image source, Rex Features

Leeds United have been promoted back to the Premier League after two years in the Championship.

Daniel Farke's side had crushed Stoke City 6-0 in their own game earlier on Monday to leave promotion a mere formality.

They will now win the title with wins over Bristol City and Plymouth Argyle in their final two matches, barring a mathematical miracle.

Victories in those remaining games will also see the Whites hit 100 points, a figure the Clarets can also reach with two more wins.

Leeds United

Image source, PA Media

Leeds United captain Ethan Ampadu speaking to Sky Sports:

"Very proud. A lot of positives. The celebrations are amazing. We've worked all year for this.

"Not to put a dampener on it, we've still got another target we want to achieve, so we're going to enjoy tonight and then we're going to try and do the full thing."

On the performance in the 6-0 win over Stoke:

"That was the biggest thing today. We didn't know what was going to happen in this game, so for us we were just so happy about our performance.

"We've been building for a couple of weeks to get back to our levels and I think today showed that. We all came together and this is another little push. Another boost.

"Another two games and we can finish off the job."

On going up: "It's a really enjoyable moment. We will definitely enjoy today."

Dan Jewell
BBC Radio Lancashire Sport

The PA system is cranked up and here come the Burnley players.

The players surge out onto the field to an ecstatic reception, they are all getting involved in the celebrations and heading towards the centre circle.

The champagne is meant for spraying but it's not stopped James Trafford who has just taken a big slug of the bottle.

David Unsworth
Former Burnley and Everton defender on BBC Radio Lancashire

Image source, Getty Images

We've got to think about what success looks like for Scott Parker next season.

If he survives it's a successful season. That's how you build the club, that's what Sean Dyche did.

I hope he's backed in the transfer market and given the money he deserves. He's got to be in the running for manager of the season.

Image source, Getty Images

With that victory, Burnley have not only won promotion to the Premier League, but they have also now gone 31 regular-season Championship games unbeaten.

If they avoid defeat in their final two, they will match the 33-match record set by Reading in 2005-06.

David Unsworth
Former Burnley and Everton defender on BBC Radio Lancashire

They've achieved something they'll never forget.

They've created rocking chair memories for themselves. What they have done today is something they will never ever forget.

It's very difficult to bounce back from the Premier League at the first time of asking and they did it with two games to spare.

Dan Jewell
BBC Radio Lancashire Sport

Brownhill - what a captain's performance. Two goals and he was absolutely everywhere.

The players deserve all the credit. I'm delighted for Scott Parker, it's his third promotion.

It's a wonderful day if you're a Burnley fan.