The Championship Promotion Battle Heats Up

While the majority of my attention has been focused on the clubs I support and the ups and downs of The Premier League, I cannot forget that there are still 3 Premier League places up for grabs next season that a selection of top quality Championship sides are currently chasing.
This year the clubs have an extra incentive to try and achieve promotion as the new multi-million pound Premier League television deal kicks in this summer which will mean a huge financial gain for all teams in the league, but especially the 3 newcomers from The Championship.
The main frontrunners this season have been Cardiff City who have been top of the table for most of this season and have not been displaced from that top spot since the start of December. Malky Mackay has built a good solid team that currently sits 5 points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand. I think many would be surprised if they didn’t go up automatically this season.
One thing people always look for in Championship clubs is to see which players can make the step up to the big time. One player in particular I can think of at Cardiff is Peter Whittingham. The 28 year old English midfielder hasn’t featured in the Premier League since 2006 when he played for Aston Villa, but has proven to be a key player for the Welsh side in recent seasons and if they go up it will be interesting to see how he gets on at a higher level. So while I’m certain that Cardiff will hold on for a top two finish, even if they were to hit a bad run of form, you’ll still see them finishing in the top 6 by May.
Behind Cardiff, the race for the last automatic promotion spot is a very tight affair. Watford currently occupy it but are just a point ahead of Hull City and 2 points ahead of Crystal Palace, Leicester City occupied 2nd place just over a month ago but a dip in form has seen The Foxes drop down to 5th and left them 8 points away from Watford. I wouldn’t rule them out completely due to the amount of quality they posses, but they are going to need to start picking up the right results again soon if they want to get back up there.
The last run of games will be very exciting and it’ll take everything these teams have got to ensure that it is them celebrating promotion the easy way on the last day of the season. While all the teams are full of talent, if I had to make a prediction for 2nd place I would say Watford will just get it as I think they have got slightly easier fixtures left compared to the other teams though. The game between Hull and Watford on April 2nd at the KC Stadium will be a massive game however and the result may well prove to be decisive in the race for automatic promotion.
While at least 3 of the teams I’ve already mentioned may well have to settle for a play-off spot at the end of the day, there are still other teams in with a shout of making them too. Brighton and Hove Albion currently sit in 6th place 2 points clear of Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough and just a few points behind them are Bolton Wanderers. Anybody below that in my opinion is just too far behind the main challengers and just doesn’t have enough to get themselves in with a shout of making it.
Out of the 4 teams, I think Brighton might just nick the last place. Gus Poyet has done a great job there and they always impress me whenever I watch their games. Nottingham Forest have Billy Davies back in the hot seat at The City Ground and while it is a move that has gone down well with the fans and they have had a good run of form lately, I’m not sure that it will last all the way until the end of the season. Speaking of form, Bolton Wanderers are on a brilliant run at the moment. Unbeaten in 7 and having spent the majority of the season in mid-table, Dougie Freedman’s side are now in with a shout of the play-offs. While The Trotters have risen, Middlesbrough have fallen, 3rd place at New Year, Tony Mowbray’s men went on a horrible run which has seen them lose points and places, but after a big home win last Saturday at Cardiff, they are still not out of the race just yet.
So while most of my attention will no doubt be focused on such things as who will qualify for The Champions League and who will avoid relegation in the Premier League, I will still be keeping a very close eye on the top of The Championship and seeing how the rest of the season unfolds for the 9 teams I’ve mentioned. At the end of the day, 6 will be left wondering what could have been, while 3 will be spending the summer in dreamland.
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