good morning! i know we all feel lousy about yesterday’s game, so let’s focus on the second tier of english football. And this is a doozy because the final matchday of the EFL Championship is this weekend!
Here’s what we know: Leicester City are Champions. Rotherham are relegated. Southampton are in the playoffs. Huddersfield are effectively relegated. Eighth-placed Boro through 18th-placed Stoke City are on holiday. Let’s get to the good stuff.
Race for automatic promotion:
2. Ipswich Town (93 Pts, +33 GD)
3. Leeds United (90 Pts, +39 GD)
Ipswich Town took a huge step towards the Premier League earlier this week after a win against Coventry on Tuesday. Cameron Burgess’ strike in the 69th minute means Town need just one point.
Their opponent on Saturday? Huddersfield, and this one is at Portman Road. You want to believe this has been decided, but anyone who’s watched the last few weeks of the Championship will tell you it’s far from guaranteed.
Meanwhile, Leeds are playing Southampton. Which is interesting! Not because it’ll be the de facto decider, but because Leeds fans will be wanting their rivals Huddersfield to win. Kinda like how Spurs fans want to lose to City.
Race for the playoffs:
5. Norwich (73 Pts, +16 GD)
6. West Brom (72 Pts, +20 GD)
7. Hull (70 Pts, +9 GD)
The race is almost decided here. Norwich are in, it’s just a matter of if they’ll be fifth or sixth.
Hull’s hopes are barely alive after a thrilling 3-3 draw against Ipswich Town last weekend. And West Brom have lost their last three games, including a 0-3 loss to Wednesday.
I don’t like Hull’s chances. An away game at Plymouth is gonna be tough, and WBA should come away with three easy points against Preston.
Race for relegation:
19. Blackburn Rovers (50 Pts, -16 GD)
20. Sheffield Wednesday (50 Pts, -26 GD)
21. Plymouth Argyle (48 Pts, -12 GD)
22. Birmingham (47 Pts, -16 GD)
You might be surprised not to see QPR on this list, and that’s because they’re now mathematically safe! A huge turnaround after a disastrous season.
Wednesday are looking for their own survival miracle, too. I think they had like 3 points after the first 13 matches this season and recently beat Leeds 4-0. Their survival isn’t guaranteed yet, that GD is a major blot.
The others: Blackburn, Argyle and Birmingham.
Argyle have kinda been hanging on for months now, and I’m not sure how much they can keep it up. Rovers have only won maybe two matches this calendar year despite a 40-goal season from Sammie Szmodics, and Birmingham have been awful since the whole Rooney experiment.
Marquee matches this weekend:
- Sunderland (15) vs Wednesday (20)
- Leicester (1) vs Blackburn (19)
- Argyle (21) vs Hull (7)
- Birmingham (22) vs Norwich (5)
- WBA (6) vs Preston (10)
- Leeds (2) vs Soton (4)
Fitzie’s track of the day: One Nation Under a Groove, by Funkadelic
And now for your links:
Charlie Eccleshare ($$): Big Ange takes responsibility to Spurs’ defeat to Chelsea
Dan KP: Ange Postecoglou says ‘majority’ of Spurs players not buying into his philosophy yet