EFL Championship Goes to the Wire | OneFootball

One matchday. Four playoff spots. Seven teams. Who’s going up to the Premier League?

The Championship is nuts. Going into the final day on Saturday, any one of three teams can get automatic promotion to the Premier League, while three teams are fighting for the final end-of-season play-offs spot.

EFL Championship Top 8. Source: FotMob

Seven teams all with something massive to play for. Little wonder Opta called it the most exciting league in Europe. As a reminder, two go up automatically, while teams finishing 3rd to 6th go into the play-offs.

Yes it’s time for the calculators to work out exactly who needs what as the hopes, dreams and emotions of thousands of supporters are put through the wringer minute by minute. All games kick off Saturday at 12.30pm BST/7:30am ET. Here are the runners and riders…..

Coventry City (already promoted)

Frank Lampard’s Coventry can sit and enjoy the final day’s chaos with promotion and the Championship league title already sewn up.

It’s been a magnificent season for the Sky Blues, who return to the Premier League after a 25-year absence, and they’ve been the best team in the league from start to finish. They go to Watford on Saturday and will probably win comfortably if they’ve sobered up after last week’s trophy lift. But to be honest, no-one really cares. Unsurprisingly Frank has already been linked to a return to Chelsea but surely he wouldn’t make that mistake twice.

Ipswich Town (currently 2nd)

The Tractor Boys are making hard work of this. Knowing that a few games ago they were sitting in 2nd with two games in hand on all their competitors, it seemed impossible they would go into the last day with something to play for. But three draws in the last four games have left them clinging to second spot by their fingernails and looking nervously over their shoulder.

It’s in their hands though; all they have to do is beat Queen’s Park Rangers at home and it’s job done. With only a one point lead over Millwall, a draw or defeat might see the Lions or even Middlesbrough take their place in the Premier League. Can they take the pressure?

Millwall (currently 3rd)

Arguably the surprise package of the season, Millwall have generally been in and around the play offs in recent years, but never so close to automatic promotion. Only a couple of weeks ago they were sitting in second but got the jitters, with a surprise defeat at home by Norwich and a 0-0 against West Brom. Now one point behind Ipswich in 3rd, Alex Neil’s men will be praying for a QPR upset at Portman Road, but their goal difference is so far behind Ipswich they will need to beat already-relegated Oxford United at home to take the glory of automatic promotion to the Premier League for the very first time in their history.

The football purists might hate them, but they know what they’re good at and play to their strength. As their song goes: “No-one likes us, we don’t care.” To be fair, I like Millwall and hope they do it. If only to see the look on the Met police’s faces when they (and their supporters) turn up at Chelsea or West Ham.

Middlesbrough (currently 4th)

Boro fans will be delighted they still have an outside shot at automatic promotion after a miserable run of form which saw them go without a home win between the end of January and mid-April, just as they were well placed in second. But back-to-back victories at the Riverside have rekindled their hopes. They sit two points behind Ipswich and one behind Millwall going into the final fixture away at fellow promotion hopefuls Wrexham. It’s not an ideal fixture, but they are already assured of a play-off place so can take the handbrake off and fully go for it. They must win and hope Ipswich and Millwall don’t. If that happens they will leapfrog them both into second and up they go.

Southampton (currently 5th)

We’ve looked at the extraordinary rise of Southampton in recent blogs, but their unlikely drive towards automatic promotion was stopped in its tracks on Tuesday night. They needed to beat Ipswich at St Mary’s to stand any chance of overhauling them on the day, but a pulsating encounter finished 2-2 and they are left with the consolation of the play offs. Which is a pretty massive consolation given where they were mid-season. They will still want to finish 3rd or 4th though to get home advantage in the play-off second leg, so won’t be taking it easy away at Preston. They go into the playoffs top of the Championship form table and will fancy their chances to make an immediate return to the Premier League.

Wrexham (currently 6th)

The fairytale continues. As does the old adage about it’s not where you start but where you finish that counts. Hollywood’s favorite football team sneaked into the final play off spot two weeks ago so have the whip hand going into the final day. But only just. They sit level on points with Hull and with a goal difference only one better. They can win and still not make it into the play-offs. Form isn’t great – two wins, one draw and three defeats in their last six – but isn’t as horrendous as Hull’s. They face a Middlesbrough team with their eyes still set on automatic promotion so it’s all set for a cracking game. North Wales will be watching. But not as closely as the Disney execs.

Hull City (currently 7th)

Oh dear. You’d feel sorry for Hull if it wasn’t for the fact that their fans do this really stupid Tiger impression when they take the lead. They’ve been in the top 6 pretty much all season. But two wins in 10 has seen them slide. And what a slide. From 3rd at the start of February to 4th to 5th to 6th then out of the play-off positions altogether. Their last victory came six games ago, and that was against poor old Sheffield Wednesday, who were relegated weeks ago and are still in negative points having won only one game all season.

The tension, nerves and pressure being felt at the MKM Stadium make it almost impossible to see how they will overcome an in-form Norwich, whose late charge for the play-offs came just too late. But stranger things have happened. They have nothing to lose now they’ve slipped out of the play-offs so might play with a freedom that Wrexham might not be able to. All they need to do is better Wrexham’s result – if they both win Hull need to win by one goal more – to take 6th spot. Both teams though know that if they slip up, Derby are waiting in the wings.

Derby County (currently 8th)

Two seasons ago, Derby were in League 1 having suffered administration, a 21-point deduction from the EFL and financial meltdown. Promoted, they narrowly escaped relegation from the Championship back to League 1 last season. Yet come Saturday afternoon they might be three games away from the Premier League. It’s quite the turnaround from John Eustace’s men, who keep surprising us and grinding out results. Crippled by injuries to key players, every time it looks over they find a win and a 3-2 victory away at QPR last week, when Hull and Wrexham both lost, means they are in the hat on the final day. Out of the three teams vying for 6th, they are the form team and have arguably the most favourable game, home to an on-the-beach Sheffield United. Could they do it? The odds are against them but they have been all season, yet here we are.

Predictions

Looking at the race for automatic promotion from the Championship to the Premier League and then the fight for the final play off place, feel free to take my second prediction with a big tub of salt.

First though, who’s going up with Coventry? Well Ipswich have blown a couple of chances to render the final day anything other than a celebration, but they are at home. To a very average QPR team. You feel the only team who can beat Ipswich are themselves, but after a stodgy draw last weekend against West Brom, they looked back to their best in midweek against Southampton, and it’s hard to look past them. So I won’t. Ipswich to do it.

As I said you can take this bit with a pinch or more of salt. Declaring an interest as a huge Derby County fan, and long-term season ticket holder, it would be remiss of me to predict anything other than Derby taking 6th by bettering Wrexham and Hull’s results. Form suggests it’s on, the fixture list suggests it’s on. So I’m going for it. It’s on. Derby to surprise everyone get a play-off place. Up the Rams!