Why Coventry City have clear promotion advantage over Middlesbrough - It involves Frank Lamaprd | OneFootball

Coventry City may now have an edge over their Premier League promotion rivals...

Coventry City may now enjoy a clear advantage over Middlesbrough in the race for Premier League promotion, and it involves Frank Lampard.

Lampard’s Sky Blues side have emerged as the Championship’s team to beat this season, leaving other sides in their wake as they’ve put the heartbreak of play-off semi-final defeat behind them to reach new levels of competitiveness.

After 15 matches, the Sky Blues are five points clear of Middlesbrough in second and have a further two points back to Stoke City in third, which leaves them in a healthy position to fight for automatic promotion.

They have netted a whopping 40 times thus far, which is by far the division’s highest total. Ipswich Town and Hull City come next with 26 respectively, which highlights just how strong Coventry have been.

Fears began to emerge that all this good work was potentially going to waste when Southampton made the decision to relieve Will Still of his managerial duties. When the shortlist of candidates to replace him appeared, Lampard was reportedly high up on the list.

After seeing John Eustace pull off a similar switch successfully last term from play-off chasing Blackburn Rovers to relegation-battling Derby County, the temptation could’ve been in Coventry’s boss to take the gamble.

Southampton could arguably offer a better chance of long-term success and Lampard has recent experience of transforming a Championship side’s season, as that is exactly what he did with Coventry last term.

Despite the interest in his services from Southampton, it now seems extremely unlikely that Lampard will be heading to St Mary's, or indeed any other job for that matter at this moment in time.

The Saints are reportedly most likely to hand the job to Tonda Eckert on a permanent basis, whilst leaving Coventry never really seemed like a realistic option for the former Chelsea boss.

After what could’ve been a damaging situation for the Sky Blues, they now enjoy a potential promotion advantage over Middlesbrough.

Boro have also enjoyed time at the top of the table for multiple weeks this season and looked able to fight with Coventry until May under Rob Edwards’ management.

However, when Premier League outfit Wolves were on the lookout for a new manager, Edwards decided to leave his post at the Riverside to make a return to top-flight management.

This angered Middlesbrough supporters immensely and has now left them in a period of unknown.

Recent reports suggest that Kim Hellberg is going to be the man to lead Middlesbrough forward, and while he comes with a strong reputation from Sweden, the 37-year-old has never previously coached in English football.

Naturally, a bedding-in period will be needed for the Swede to get up to grips with the Championship and there will be learning experiences throughout the rest of the season which every boss goes through when new to a division.

However, this will no doubt impact Boro in the battle for promotion, when consistency is the most important factor to sustaining a prolonged promotion push, and this may become an issue if Hellberg undergoes some teething problems in the second tier.

Having kept Lampard, Coventry can continue playing in their current fashion and will keep banking points as a result. It will be extremely challenging for Boro to do the same under a boss new to the division, which means that the Sky Blues now have a clear advantage in the promotion race.

In such a tight and competitive division, any edge can prove crucial come May and now Coventry have one over their nearest competitor.

Frank Lampard’s Coventry side can’t get ahead of themselves - Boro could be galvanised under new boss

Although Coventry now have an advantage in the race for promotion, they can’t afford to get ahead of themselves.

There is still plenty of football left to play this season and teams have squandered leads at the top of the table from much better positions in the best.

Lampard must make sure his squad remain focused on the task at hand and don’t let Middlesbrough’s managerial situation sidetrack them from winning football matches.

The Coventry camp must be looking at Middlesbrough’s current predicament with some delight, as any disruption to one of their promotion rivals benefits them directly.

But, they will also have seen the outrage and felt the warmth of the fire that has now been lit under the Teessiders after the Edwards debacle, and will be fully aware of the possibility of Boro being an even greater threat in the promotion race with a galvanised fanbase and playing squad at the Riverside.