Don Goodman picks one of Derby County, Plymouth Argyle, and Luton Town to survive | OneFootball

Pundit Don Goodman believes Derby County have the best chance of surviving out of the current bottom three clubs.

The race for Championship survival heated up in midweek after all the current teams in the bottom three secured crucial victories.

Basement-boys Plymouth Argyle earned a massive win on the road at Portsmouth, while Luton Town tasted success on their travels with a 2-1 victory at fellow relegation candidates Cardiff City.

Meanwhile, Derby County made it back-to-back wins at Pride Park, putting an end to Coventry City’s outstanding run of form, which has lifted the Rams to just a point from safety.

Such an unexpected turn of results for the usual strugglers has seen the likes of Cardiff, Oxford United and Stoke City dragged into relegation danger, with this battle surely set to go down to the wire.

As the anxiety continues to build for teams at the bottom of the division, pundit Don Goodman has outlined who he thinks will beat the drop out of the current bottom three teams.

Don Goodman backs Derby County to earn Championship survival

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Don Goodman believes Derby County are the most likely to survive in the Championship over Luton Town and Plymouth Argyle, highlighting John Eustace as their biggest asset to help pull the club out of the mire.

Goodman said: “All three teams in the Championship relegation zone had huge wins in midweek.

“I’d written Plymouth off, and then they go and beat Portsmouth, I’d written Luton off, and they have a huge win against Cardiff and an away win to boot, which have been very few and far between, and I wondered whether Derby would be able to back up the win they got over Blackburn against Coventry, and they did, a Coventry team that had won nine of the previous 10.

“Looking at the fixtures that they’ve all got to play, I think on paper Derby have got the best fixtures, but the problem for them is one away win all season and five of their remaining nine games are away from home, so they’re going to have to change that.

“However, back-to-back wins should breed confidence and in John Eustace, they have a man who did it last season at Blackburn, so if I had to pick one out of the three, I’d pin my mast to Derby County.”

Derby County have a huge opportunity to preserve Championship status

When looking at their remaining nine games of the season, Derby County have a brilliant chance to go on a run and form and hurl themselves away from the relegation mix.

It all begins on Saturday with a gigantic clash away at Plymouth Argyle before the international break, while the Rams will be targeting maximum points against the likes of Swansea City, Portsmouth, Luton, Hull City, and Stoke City before the end of the campaign.

Meanwhile, the Hatters still have games to play against Hull, Stoke, and Derby, while Plymouth have a much tougher run and will require some scalps along the way to battle out from the bottom.

Derby do have more winnable games than the other two sides, but the Championship is loved for its sheer unpredictability, and there are sure to be many twists and turns between now and May to see who will avoid the trapdoor to League One.