The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Which leading sides have the easiest run-in?
It’s that time of the season when fans start looking at the fixture lists of their rivals.
The PT decided the best approach to see which of the current top 9 – the only serious contenders for an eventual top six finish – have the easiest/hardest remaining fixtures was to rank every team in the division from one to 24.
Having to play current leaders Sheffield Wednesday would earn a team one point and 24 points is available if a team still has bottom club Forest Green Rovers to play.
Obviously the team with the highest points tally have the easiest run-in based on the current position of the teams they still have to play.
We’ve then taken into account the number of games left to play and estimated where the current top nine will finish.
The formula led to a couple of surprising conclusions, although in-form Wycombe Wanderers could be affected by the loss of manager Gareth Ainsworth to Championship club QPR.
Sheff Wed
Current position/pts: 1st/68 Run-in points: 193 Games left v top 9 (5): Posh (h), Bolton (h), Barnsley (a), Shrewsbury (a), Derby (h). Predicted finish: 2nd
Plymouth
Current position/pts: 2nd/68 Run-in points: 200 Games left v top 9 (4): Posh
(a), Derby (h), Barnsley (a), Shrewsbury (a). Predicted finish: 1st
Ipswich
Current position/pts: 3rd/60 Run-in points: 171 Games left v top 9 (6): Bolton (a), Shrewsbury (h), Barnsley (a), Derby (a), Wycombe (h), Posh (a).
Predicted finish:
6th
Bolton
Current position/pts: 4th/59 Run-in points: 185 Games left v top 9 (3): Ipswich (h), Sheff Wed (a), Shrewsbury (h).
Predicted finish: 4th
Derby
Current position/pts: 5th/57 Run-in points:182 Games left v top 9 (6): Barnsley (a), Shrewsbury (h), Plymouth
(a), Posh (a), Ipswich (h), Sheff Wed (a). Predicted finish: 5th
Barnsley
Current position/pts: 6th/56 Run-in points: 191 Games left v top 9 (7): Derby (h), Plymouth (h), Wycombe (a), Sheff Wed (h), Ipswich (h), Shrewsbury (h), Posh (h). Predicted finish:
7th
Wycombe
Current position/pts: 7th/53 Run-in points: 223 Games left v top 9 (3): Shr’bury (a), Barnsley (h), Ipswich (a). Predicted finish: 3rd
Shrewsbury
Current position/pts: 8th/48 Run-in points: 119 Games left v top 9 (9): Wycombe (h), Derby (a), Posh (a), Ipswich (a), Posh (h), Barnsley
(a), Plymouth (h), Bolton (a), Sheff Wed (h). Predicted finish: 9th
POSH
Current position/pts: 9th/47 Run-in points: 182 Games left v top 9 (7): Plymouth (h), Sheff Wed (a), Shrewsbury (h), Derby (h), Shrewsbury (a), Ipswich (h), Barnsley (a). Predicted finish: 8th.