We’re a little halfway through the EFL Championship season, and it appears we’re seeing some legitimate separation towards the top of the table. But before we get there, a couple notable managerial changes:
First – Wayne Rooney has left Plymouth Argyle by mutual consent. It was a long time coming, frankly, and perhaps only Neil Warnock can save the club from relegation. Meanwhile, Carlos Cobreran departed West Brom to manage Valencia in a huge blow to the Baggie’s promotion hopes. They are 1-2-1 since his departure and have fallen out of the race for the automatics.
As you can see from the table below, the race for automatic promotion is down to four clubs: Leeds, Burnley, Sheffield United and Sunderland. The latter two clubs were relegated from the PL last year, while Leeds just missed out on securing promotion.
Only three points separate them all, but Leeds and Burnley have been the two most consistent clubs this seaosn. Leeds are the only squad to have scored more than 40 goals, whilst Burnley have conceded just NINE in 26 games. They’ve kept clean sheets in their last four games.
That leaves United and Sunderland. You hate to be the club chasing the pack, which is the position Sunderland’s in right now. But they’ve got a huge game coming up on 17 January against Burnley.
Meanwhile, a wonderful strike from Andre Brooks over the weekend helped United put some distance between them and other promotion hopefuls.
Is there any hope for the remaining clubs to catch these four? Most likely not. And I honestly don’t see any other major contenders who can push for the playoffs right now, but that’s for a future edition.
EFL Championship top six:
1. Leeds (53 Pts, +29 GD)
2. Burnley (52 Pts, +22 GD)
3. Sheffield United (52 Pts, +19 GD)
4. Sunderland (50 Pts, +17 GD)
5. Boro (41 Pts, +11 GD)
6. West Brom (40 Pts, +11 GD)
EFL Championship bottom three:
22. Hull (23 Pts, -11 GD)
23. Cardiff (23 Pts, -15 GD)
24. Argyle (20 Pts, -29 GD)
Fitzie’s track of the day: トーキョーレギー, by Masayoshi Takanaka
And now for your links:
The Athletic ($$) does a profile on Antonin Kinsky
And here’s one from the BBC
Dan KP: Ange Postecoglou turns up heat on James Maddison and other senior players
The Guardian: “Premier League fans’ unions campaigning for affordable tickets”
