Last Hurrah for the Championship

The Premier League may have a month left to play, but the wild and woolly world of the Coca-Cola Championship will be ending after this weekend. Fortunately there are several interesting games happening this weekend, and many of them will determine where certain teams will play next season. We’ll take a look after the jump.

First of all, you need to familiarize yourself with the current table. We’ll look at the top first. Wolves, as we discussed last week, have already secured automatic promotion. Birmingham have not; they’re currently in second place with 80 points, only one point above Sheffield United and three points above Reading. However, they also have the worst goal difference of those three teams; if they’re level on points, they lose the tiebreaker.

If Birmingham were playing a minnow about to be relegated, this wouldn’t look so bad. Unfortunately for them, they’re playing on the road at Reading, who need a win and a little help to get the automatic promotion that comes with second place. Should Reading win, they’d be level on points and a spot ahead of Birmingham…and earlier this season, Reading beat Birmingham away from home 3-1. The Reading-Birmingham game in on Sunday; it should be fantastic.

Reading don’t entirely control their own destiny, though. Sheffield United are the wild card; at 79 points, they’re in second place with a win and a Birmingham loss or draw. Sheffield United are on the road on Sunday as well, when they play Crystal Palace. Fun little fact: Crystal Palace is currently managed by Neil Warnock, the former Blades manager who was sacked after the Carlos Tevez scandal caused their relegation. Nobody’s saying that it’s going to be easy to beat Crystal Palace because of Warnock’s involvement, of course…but Crystal Palace have nothing left to play for and might take this game easy without his prompting.

Perhaps less glamorous is the battle for sixth place. The top two spots get promoted automatically; spots 3-6 enter a playoff to determine the third promoted side. Right now, Burnley is in sixth place with 73 points, while Preston North End are in seventh place with 71 points. Preston have the goal differential tiebreaker, so if they beat Queen’s Park Rangers AND Burnley lose or draw against Bristol City than they’ll have a shot to play for promotion.

The bottom, unfortunately for our friend BIGUS over at Unprofessional Foul, is not quite as open. Charlton Athletic and Southampton are definitely done for the year. Norwich City aren’t quite done yet; they’re in 22nd place with 46 points and a -11 goal differential. They’ve got the goal differential tiebreaker over 21st place Barnsley, who have 49 points and a -14 goal differential. In order to stay up, then, they need to beat Charlton Athletic AND have Barnsley to lose to Plymouth Argyle. Simple, right?

Most of us don’t really follow the Championship much; if you get a chance this weekend, and have access to the games, you may want to check it out. Teams playing for their future are always more motivated, and these games promise to at least have good play, regardless of their outcomes.