West Brom and Southampton share a goalless draw and Leeds draw

The race for a place in the Premier League began this afternoon as the Championship play-off semi-finals got under way.

Here’s how it all unfolded.

Southampton and West Brom share an entertaining draw

Southampton went to the Hawthorns hoping for a lead to take back to St Mary’s for the second leg but were forced to settle for a draw.

It was the home side who started on the front foot, forcing a couple of early corners and pinching the ball up the pitch to cause Saints problems.

They couldn’t find an opening, though, and Southampton began to grow into the tie, Kyle Walker-Peters seeing a low drive deflected for a corner.

Flynn Downes then saw his effort well saved by Alex Palmer before Adam Armstrong hit the side netting from the rebound.

On the half-hour mark it was Alex McCarthy’s moment to shine as the Saints stopper kept out a Grady Diangana header from point-blank range to keep his side level at the break.

Southampton started the second half with more vigor as they tried for an opening, but the chances kept coming for West Brom as Daniel Furlong fired wide when he was well placed.

Alex Mowat fired over a well-placed free kick after a poor challenge from Harwood-Bellis, while Diangana forced another good save from McCarthy before Palmer came to West Brom’s rescue again with an excellent save from a deflected effort, game showing. less and less likely to end as a stalemate.

But despite the odds, he even finished with the honors, letting it all come down to 90 minutes at St Mary’s on Friday.

After missing out on automatic promotion thanks to a terrible run of form, Daniel Farke’s Leeds side will need to win at Elland Road to progress to Wembley after playing out a goalless draw with Norwich City.

The visitors dominated possession in the early stages and felt they should have had a penalty when Wilfried Gnonto was brought down, only for referee Josh Smith to wave away protests from Leeds.

But Norwich grew into the game and Josh Sargent will feel he should have done better when he headed wide from Jack Stacey’s cross. They began to push for the opener, forcing a flurry of clean sheets as Illan Meslier in particular looked nervous in the Leeds goal.

But Leeds rode it out and 10 minutes later thought they had taken the lead, only for Geronimo Rutter to be sent off as Daniel Farke’s side began to get their feet on the ball and slow the game down as the break approached .

In the second half, chances began to dwindle for both sides; Norwich saw Gabriel Sara fire wide before Crysencio Summerville tested Angus Gunn from a tight angle.

But with neither side keen to extend themselves too far with a second leg in mind, chances remained limited as the half wore on. The Canaries were dealt a late blow when Sargent was forced off through injury.

It means things remain unchanged heading back to Elland Road, which will leave Leeds feeling the more confident of the two when it comes to booking their place at Wembley and a potential instant return to the top tier.