Championship anxiety and emotion heighten in the race for promotion

Leeds and Burnley are trying to hold off Blades at the top and thrilling race for playoff spots must be whittled down

Ao Tanaka sat in the away dressing room and started crying. The Japan midfielder had just helped Leeds win a vital match at Middlesbrough this month but they were not tears of joy. “I asked Ao: ‘Why?’” said his manager, Daniel Farke. “He said: ‘I don’t know boss, I’m just so empty.’”

Given it is April and, with four games remaining, a gruelling, painfully tight, Championship promotion race is drawing towards a denouement, no one seemed too surprised. “It’s hard for all my players at the moment,” said Farke, whose team could, like Burnley, be promoted as early as Easter Monday. “We’re working for the most emotional club in the UK and the outside world is always nervous and panicking.”

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