The Championship is always gripping, but this season could turn out to be an all-time classic.
At the top of the table, Ipswich Town are putting in a brilliant effort to remain in contention for promotion along with the trio of clubs that came down last year: Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton. At least one of those will miss out, with more drama at the league’s bottom.
Just seven points splits 11 of the 12 teams in the bottom half of the league with 10 rounds of fixtures to go.
It’s all to play for, but who will be dropping down to League One at the end of the campaign?
24th: Rotherham United – 1/1000
According to BettingLounge.co.uk, the Millers are a certainty for relegation with a probability of 99.90% – and it is hard to argue. A 5-0 midweek thrashing at the hands of Coventry City made it eight league losses in a row for Rotherham, who have either been relegated or promoted in each of the last seven seasons.
With 19 points from their 36 games to date, they have let in a league-high 72 goals. With 19 points to make up on 21st-placed Huddersfield, it is a matter of time until their fate is sealed.
23rd: Sheffield Wednesday – 10/11
The Owls looked doomed a few weeks ago, but their fine recovery under Danny Rohl has given them a fantastic shot at maintaining second-tier status. Wednesday have won five of their past six games, with only a defeat to leaders Leicester breaking up a quite unbelievable run of form.
A series of four wins on the bounce has come with a single goal conceded. Rohl appears to have fixed a previously leaky defence and striker Ike Ugbo has been on fire since joining on loan in January, scoring six times in his past six appearances for the South Yorkshire side.
Momentum is with Wednesday, but their goal difference of -23 is worse than all of their rivals.
22nd: Stoke City – 10/3
Steven Schumacher’s decision to leave Plymouth for Stoke is looking like an extremely bad one.
The Potters are two points and six places behind his old side and staring down the barrel of being outside the top two divisions for the first time in over 20 years. Stoke were three points above the drop zone when Schumacher took charge in December, but they are now in dire peril.
Stoke have won two of their past three home league games but they struggle to find the net. Top scorer Andre Vidigal has only hit five league goals. April’s reunion with Plymouth is a key game.
21st: Huddersfield – 9/4
The Terriers’ new manager Andre Breitenreiter led his side to a brilliant 2-1 comeback win at Watford last month, but they are still in trouble after taking a point from their past two games.
Home form is usually key in a relegation battle. Town have only lost one of their last five in front of their own fans, but on the road they have won just once in nine matches since November.
With the same number of points and an identical goal difference to Stoke, Huddersfield are only out of the drop zone by virtue of having scored more goals than the Potters.
Perhaps they should have stuck with veteran escape artist Neil Warnock after all…
39 points – QPR (9/4), Birmingham City (5/1)
A point above the red line, Marti Cifuentes has turned QPR into one of the league’s form teams.
Wednesday’s 2-2 draw at home to West Brom means Rangers have collected 17 points from a possible 24 in their last eight games. They will be fine if that run of form continues.
Birmingham are in a slightly stickier situation. Tony Mowbray led the Blues to victory against former club Sunderland last month, but it was then announced he was taking time off to deal with a medical issue. Since then, the Blues have only managed one draw from three games.
40 points – Plymouth Argyle (7/2), Blackburn Rovers (4/1) and Millwall (9/2)
With 50 points normally enough to secure survival in the Championship, there are still a few positive results needed for a trio of sides that are still 10 away from that magic marker.
Millwall recently brought back a club legend in Neil Harris after head coach Joe Edwards was sacked on the back of a run of seven defeats in eight. Harris, the club’s all-time top scorer, has overseen a rapid improvement with the Lions taking seven points from his three games so far.
Blackburn are also under new management, with ex-Birmingham City boss John Eustace taking over after Jon Dahl Tomasson left by mutual consent.
Rovers performed admirably in an FA Cup defeat at home to Newcastle United on penalties last month but are yet to win under Eustace. They will be without January signing John Fleck for the rest of the season due to the midfielder’s shin injury.
Argyle’s return to the Championship for the first time since 2010 was disrupted by their boss Schumacher leaving in December. A run of four points from seven games has seen them slip down the league and top scorer Morgan Whittaker, who has 17 goals, is in a dry spell.
Not yet safe: Watford (50/1), Bristol City (50/1) and Swansea City (25/1)
Watford are sat just outside the top half but a 1-1 midweek draw at home to Swansea City left both sides with work to do to guarantee survival.
The Hornets have only beaten Rotherham since January, while Swansea’s run of seven points from three games has eased their fears.
Bristol City likely only need a couple of wins to be sure of staying in the Championship but the Robins have lost four in a row.
The Championship continues to be one of the most watchable leagues in the world, with lots of nervous waiting for fans of many teams.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief at The Real EFL, Gary is a passionate Lincoln City fan with extensive content creation across the Championship and EFL. He also shares expert football betting tips.
