As competitive as ever – it’s all to play for in the Championship
CARDIFF City and Swansea City remain within striking distance of the Championship’s play-off places.
A notoriously difficult league has been blown wide open in recent weeks, with runaway leaders West Brom and Leeds United faltering dramatically.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side moved above the Baggies after completing a remarkable comeback victory over Millwall, with Slaven Bilic’s men losing 2-1 to Cardiff.
It means just 13 points separate table toppers Leeds and the Bluebirds who occupy the final top half spot with 29 games gone.
Despite losing to Stoke City last time out, Swansea are just two points adrift of Brentford and Bristol City who are fifth and sixth respectively.
Neil Harris’ side are a further three points back with 17 league games left to play.
So it seems there’s everything to play for.
Cardiff are currently scheduled to play six league fixtures in February while they also have their FA Cup fourth round replay with Reading to look forward to.
As for the Swans, they have a remarkable seven Championship games next month, meaning there are 21 points up for grabs in February alone.
Steve Cooper will no doubt hope new additions Rhian Brewster, Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi can aid Swansea’s promotion dream while Harris will be aiming to bolster his options in the final hours of the January transfer window as the Bluebirds look to build on their victory over West Brom.
In what is proving to be a ridiculously competitive Championship season, with teams taking points off each other left, right and centre, anything is possible between now and May.
We are currently midway through the 16th season of the Championship since it was restructured into its current guise by the English Football League.
In that time, Fulham’s total of 80 points in the 2016/17 season was the highest ever achieved by the side finishing in sixth place in the Championship.
At the opposite end of the scale, Leicester City’s tally of 68 points was enough for the Foxes to take the final play-off place at the end of the 2012/13 campaign.
As far as the average total is concerned, the 73.925 is the exact figure that teams finishing in sixth place end with. For easy numbers, let’s call it 74.
Each side has 51 points left to play for with 17 games remaining.
Swansea will need to pick up 29 points to reach that average total while Cardiff need 32.
It’s certainly a tall order, although in what has proven to be such a tight league, there’s every chance that those figures may actually be marginally lower.
Despite their recent slumps, Leeds (1/10) and West Brom (3/10) are still the overwhelming favourites to gain promotion from the second tier this season.
But the chasing pack are hot on their heels.
The Pools list Brentford (10/11), Fulham (2/1) and Nottingham Forest (7/2) as the other strong contenders to be playing Premier League football next term.
As for the two Welsh sides in the division, Swansea are 10/1 seventh-favourites to gain promotion while Cardiff are 28/1 12th favourites to make an immediate return to the promised land.
■ Odds courtesy of The Pools, correct at time of publishing. 18+ only.