It tells you everything you need to know about the Championship promotion fight’s brutal final rounds that of the division’s top ten teams, just two emerged victorious on Good Friday.
The final sprint of a marathon season often does this. Think Leeds United’s gravity-defying collapse of 2019, when an inexplicable home defeat to Wigan let in Sheffield United. Or, further back in the annals of history, Wolverhampton Wanderers ceding promotion to bitter rivals West Brom in a choke for the ages in 2001.
This season it’s even tighter, with even more teams stumbling. Bournemouth sit second but few in the South West are particularly enamoured with the way Scott Parker’s team are playing. They have gone three games without scoring and, more damningly, racked up just four shots on target in the same period.
If they are to go up, it will be as a result of winning a war of attrition that has left few at Dean Court feeling triumphant.
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Parker admitted that his team were “edgy” and played with “anxiety” during the first half of a barren draw against Middlesbrough on Friday, which left them vulnerable to Huddersfield or even, at a stretch, Luton Town closing in over the final few weeks of a bruising campaign.
They remain in the box seat, with two games in hand over the Terriers, but travel to Coventry before welcoming the Championship’s runaway leaders Fulham at the weekend.
“The games are ticking off. If you can’t win then don’t lose,” Parker said after Friday’s 0-0. They have two games in hand and caution may yet see them succeed in their mission of returning to the Premier League but they should be wary of teams below them gathering momentum and prepared of taking more risks.
The Championship top six
- Fulham P41 W25 D8 L8 PTS83
- Bournemouth P40 W21 D11 L8 PTS74
- Huddersfield P42 W19 D13 L10 PTS70
- Luton Town P42 W19 D11 L12 PTS68
- Nottingham Forest P40 W19 D10 L11 PTS67
- Sheffield United P42 W18 D11 L13 PTS65
Take Chris Wilder, for example. The Middlesbrough manager reckons he is more of a “gambler” when he manages in the second tier and he may need those instincts in Monday’s biggest game in the Championship.
A 12.30pm kick off at the Riverside pitches Wilder’s 7th placed Middlesbrough against Carlos Corberan’s Huddersfield who are still, improbably, in contention for an automatic promotion which felt very unlikely indeed before the start of the season.
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It is now or never for both teams, who drew on Friday. With budgets still recovering from the hammering they took from Covid, and clubs coming down that have experience of navigating a full Championship season, next season may look very different.
As if to prove a point Wilder raised eyebrows after Friday’s draw at Bournemouth by offering an equivocal response to suggestions that he could be Burnley’s next manager. i understands the Clarets are looking elsewhere at the moment, but Wilder hardly distanced himself with any force at the weekend.
“I’ve not looked at it,” he said. “Sean is a pal of mine. I think he’ll understand it in terms of how the industry is and there has obviously been a decision made. I’m not going to come out with anything in terms of this, that or the other. My head is down and I’m thinking, ‘onto Monday’.”
Perhaps – given Burnley’s struggles – Wilder would be better off sticking at Boro, a club that will allow him to build something even if they don’t go up.
Who needs what?
Promotion
- Fulham can go up with a win over Preston tomorrow or if Forest lose to West Brom tonight.
- Two wins for Bournemouth this week (they play on Monday and Saturday) would be enough to take them up if Nottingham Forest lose twice (they are playing on the same days), Luton drop any points and Huddersfield also lose
Relegation
- Barnsley are down, if they lose to Peterborough while Reading beat Swansea on Monday
- Derby and Peterborough go down on Monday if their results are bettered by Reading.
Key fixtures
- Monday 18 April – Middlesbrough vs Huddersfield
- Monday 18 April – Coventry vs Bournemouth
- Monday 18 April – Cardiff vs Luton
- Tuesday 19 April – Fulham vs Preston
- Friday 22 April – Huddersfield vs Barnsley
- Saturday 23 April – Luton vs Blackpool
- Saturday 23 April – Bournemouth vs Fulham
For Huddersfield, this campaign has been a remarkable one. Corberan, who is mystifyingly not linked with some of the bigger jobs going, has recalibrated the club’s “Terrier spirit” and they refuse to give up on a top two slot. They are better at home so anything from the Riverside will be a huge bonus.
Luton head to Cardiff with an outside chance of automatic promotion while Blackburn, after a vertiginous collapse, are drinking in last chance saloon for the play-offs as they take on Stoke.
At the bottom, Reading’s win at Bramall Lane extended the gap to nine points and leaves little room for error for Derby and Peterborough, who play fellow basement battlers Barnsley.
For Wayne Rooney’s County the priority is to sort out off-the-field matters. Chris Kirchner insists he will close out a deal that will secure their future in the coming weeks. Mike Ashley waits in the wings.
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