Championship The Championship Run-In

[SteMerritt]

Date	Oxford	West Brom	Leicester	Blackburn	Portsmouth	Charlton
21 Apr	█ Wrexham (H)	█ Watford (H)			█ Coventry (A)
22 Apr			█ Hull (H)	█ Sheffield Utd (A)		█ Ipswich (H)
25 Apr	█ Sheffield Wed (H)	█ Ipswich (H)	█ Millwall (H)		█ Stoke (A)	█ Hull (H)
02 May	█ Millwall (A)	█ Sheffield Wed (A)	█ Blackburn (A)	█ Leicester (H)	█ Birmingham (H)	█ Swansea (A)
​
	2 Home, 1 Away	2 Home, 1 Away	2 Home, 1 Away	1 Home, 1 Away	1 Home, 2 Away	2 Home, 1 Away
	█ 1 v Sheffield Wed	█ 1 v Sheffield Wed
			█ 1 v Relegation Rivals	█ 1 v Relegation Rivals
		█ 1 v On Beach		█ 1 v On Beach	█ 2 v On Beach	█ 1v On Beach
	█ 2 v Top End	█ 1 v Top End	█ 2 v Top End		█ 1 v Top End	█ 2 v Top End
POINTS	44 (-14) (Drop Zone)	49 (-12)	41 (-11) (Drop Zone)	49 (-15)	51 (-13)	50 (-12)

Last Update: 20/04/2026 @ 09:15

 

[m]

Last 5 games, if it stays anything like this for the remaining 9 then it will be West Brom and Blackburn dropping.

I know you can't read too much into that as a team could have an easier 5 game block than other teams but as we know there is no easy games in this league.


View attachment 34118

Using the last 6 games, and extrapolating the same form over the remaining games (including +1 for Pompey) has the table finishing:

Charlton 59	59​
Oxford 53	53​
Pompey 52	52​
QPR 52	52​
Blackburn 50	50​
Leicester 47	47​
WBA 43	43​
Sheff W -5	-5​

Obviously nonsense but a little something to smile about.

 

[The Voice Of Reason]

Using the last 6 games, and extrapolating the same form over the remaining games (including +1 for Pompey) has the table finishing:

Charlton 59	59​
Oxford 53	53​
Pompey 52	52​
QPR 52	52​
Blackburn 50	50​
Leicester 47	47​
WBA 43	43​
Sheff W -5	-5​

Obviously nonsense but a little something to smile about.

No I think they will be the 3 to go down
But isnt it fun to think about league 1 next year and how hard it will be to get promoted!!

 

[Basham Wonderland]

No I think they will be the 3 to go down
But isnt it fun to think about league 1 next year and how hard it will be to get promoted!!

No Wrexham or Birmingham.

Sheffield Wednesday with another chunky points deduction.

Very weak arrivals from League 2.

Feels like League 1 might be relatively poor next season - certainly not as bad as it was last year.

On the flip side, Championship might be pretty tough with Spurs and West Ham in it. What a great pair of grounds to tick off.

 

[OX14]

No Wrexham or Birmingham.

Sheffield Wednesday with another chunky points deduction.

Very weak arrivals from League 2.

Feels like League 1 might be relatively poor next season - certainly not as bad as it was last year.

On the flip side, Championship might be pretty tough with Spurs and West Ham in it. What a great pair of grounds to tick off.

Are you suggesting Wolves or Burnley don't go down then?

 

[Kamal]

Said this last night but we're doing exactly the right thing. We are demoralizing our relegation rivals. Both West Brom and Blackburn fans are turning on their teams. Both were singing "you're not fit to wear the shirt" at the end of their games against us. Blackburn players were even having a go at each other last night. Meanwhile, we have players on loan who were trying to get the crowd going last night. If we stay up it's because of the heart and fight the team has, which our rivals are lacking. We need to back the boys until the end!

 

[Basham Wonderland]

Are you suggesting Wolves or Burnley don't go down then?

In an ideal world!

 

[BicesterU]

This is one of those situations where I find myself contradicting my own thinking.

For example

• QPR's poor run has to end soon, but WBA and Blackburn's runs will undoubtedly continue.
• Sheffield Wednesday will be a really tough game for us and one we mustn't underestimate, but West Brom and Leicester are both guaranteed 3 points against them.
• Watford are on the beach already, so will play brilliantly against us because there's no pressure on them, but will phone it in against Blackburn because they don't care.
• Millwall will know their play-off fate before they play us and Leicester, but will rest players against Leicester and then use our game as a warm-up.

Shroedinger's run-in, basically. Both things are true until the box is opened.

 

[Joey]

I think Blackburn are done. Not just how poor they were yesterday, they were dire against Pompey too and importantly the club seems divided. They all hate the owners, their better players have been sold, are injured or out of contract in the summer and their manager already has another job anyway. Hearing their fans getting on their teams back during the game yesterday was great. Worlds apart from the atmosphere in the home ends late on last night.

Leicester should be fine. Cifuentes was sacked for underachieving with a talented squad, Rowett could actually do worse and them still stay up. Barring any deductions it would be a dreadful performance if he takes them down and they've got home games against QPR and Preston as well as going to Wednesday in the next four, they'll be fine.

Blackburn and one from us, Pompey and WBA I think. As bad as they were against us West Brom have had a couple of decent performances and should have beaten Southampton yesterday while Pompey look to be really struggling but we've all seen how quick form can flip. If pushed I think it could be Pompey who get sucked into it, Easter Monday looks absolutely massive with the bottom six all playing each other.

 

[Northernyellow]

Blackburn are down- they were poor last night and have a horrendous run-in. Leicester will be fine. It's between us, WBA, Pompey and (possibly) QPR, who are on a terrible run...50/50 we stay up imo.

 

[m]

Said this last night but we're doing exactly the right thing. We are demoralizing our relegation rivals. Both West Brom and Blackburn fans are turning on their teams. Both were singing "you're not fit to wear the shirt" at the end of their games against us. Blackburn players were even having a go at each other last night. Meanwhile, we have players on loan who were trying to get the crowd going last night. If we stay up it's because of the heart and fight the team has, which our rivals are lacking. We need to back the boys until the end!

A heart and fight which oddly seemed to be missing at the start of the season.

 

[Briggsy]

I think Blackburn are done. Not just how poor they were yesterday, they were dire against Pompey too and importantly the club seems divided. They all hate the owners, their better players have been sold, are injured or out of contract in the summer and their manager already has another job anyway. Hearing their fans getting on their teams back during the game yesterday was great. Worlds apart from the atmosphere in the home ends late on last night.

Leicester should be fine. Cifuentes was sacked for underachieving with a talented squad, Rowett could actually do worse and them still stay up. Barring any deductions it would be a dreadful performance if he takes them down and they've got home games against QPR and Preston as well as going to Wednesday in the next four, they'll be fine.

Blackburn and one from us, Pompey and WBA I think. As bad as they were against us West Brom have had a couple of decent performances and should have beaten Southampton yesterday while Pompey look to be really struggling but we've all seen how quick form can flip. If pushed I think it could be Pompey who get sucked into it, Easter Monday looks absolutely massive with the bottom six all playing each other.

Bit of a pointless post, this, but I totally agree with all that! I've been telling all my Leicester mates they'll be fine. They really are a depressing bunch, though.
If I had to predict the two to go down, it'd be WBA and Blackburn. I think Pompey have just enough about them, but Rovers and West Brom look totally shot at the moment.

 

[BicesterU]

Blackburn are down- they were poor last night and have a horrendous run-in. Leicester will be fine. It's between us, WBA, Pompey and (possibly) QPR, who are on a terrible run...50/50 we stay up imo.

QPR supporting mate of mine at work reckons they're going down. Tonnes of injuries at the top end of the pitch, no creativity, can't buy a goal.

But surely their can burgle 3 points somewhere from the next 9 games?

 

[Boris]

QPR supporting mate of mine at work reckons they're going down. Tonnes of injuries at the top end of the pitch, no creativity, can't buy a goal.

But surely their can burgle 3 points somewhere from the next 9 games?

Let's hope they can get three points on Saturday

 

[Joey]

QPR supporting mate of mine at work reckons they're going down. Tonnes of injuries at the top end of the pitch, no creativity, can't buy a goal.

But surely their can burgle 3 points somewhere from the next 9 games?

Sounds like the typical negativity a lot of fans have, we're all so close to our own teams that when we're playing badly it's hard to see how anyone else could be worse but we've seen first hand there are some poor teams in this division. It would be a massive collapse if they went down, they really want to be targeting their next two games against Leicester and Pompey. Get max points there then you can have the rest of the season off lads.

 

[BicesterU]

Sounds like the typical negativity a lot of fans have, we're all so close to our own teams that when we're playing badly it's hard to see how anyone else could be worse but we've seen first hand there are some poor teams in this division. It would be a massive collapse if they went down, they really want to be targeting their next two games against Leicester and Pompey. Get max points there then you can have the rest of the season off lads.

I'm just grateful we don't have any fans like this...

 

[tonyw]

This is one of those situations where I find myself contradicting my own thinking.

For example

• QPR's poor run has to end soon, but WBA and Blackburn's runs will undoubtedly continue.
• Sheffield Wednesday will be a really tough game for us and one we mustn't underestimate, but West Brom and Leicester are both guaranteed 3 points against them.
• Watford are on the beach already, so will play brilliantly against us because there's no pressure on them, but will phone it in against Blackburn because they don't care.
• Millwall will know their play-off fate before they play us and Leicester, but will rest players against Leicester and then use our game as a warm-up.

Shroedinger's run-in, basically. Both things are true until the box is opened.

Love the concept and the post, but if I was trying to put your mind at ease, I'd say:

1) Watford played us at a similar time, in almost exactly the same relative positions last season.......and they pretty much phoned it in then.
2) Sunderland didn't rest players against us in the final home game......but they also knew they were going to be in the playoffs, so weren't exactly keen on risking injury or suspension. It's tough playing Championship football when you only really care about the next game.

I think those two are good chances for a win, along with Charlton, Pompey and (of course) Wednesday.

 

[The Voice Of Reason]

Said this last night but we're doing exactly the right thing. We are demoralizing our relegation rivals. Both West Brom and Blackburn fans are turning on their teams. Both were singing "you're not fit to wear the shirt" at the end of their games against us. Blackburn players were even having a go at each other last night. Meanwhile, we have players on loan who were trying to get the crowd going last night. If we stay up it's because of the heart and fight the team has, which our rivals are lacking. We need to back the boys until the end!

Saw konak giving it a wind up to the crowd last night.

We moan about loan players not giving it but him, donley Lanks all seem to have a fight in them, as I said on the konak thread if we can have him next season yes please sign him up now

 

[The Voice Of Reason]

I think Blackburn are done. Not just how poor they were yesterday, they were dire against Pompey too and importantly the club seems divided. They all hate the owners, their better players have been sold, are injured or out of contract in the summer and their manager already has another job anyway. Hearing their fans getting on their teams back during the game yesterday was great. Worlds apart from the atmosphere in the home ends late on last night.

Leicester should be fine. Cifuentes was sacked for underachieving with a talented squad, Rowett could actually do worse and them still stay up. Barring any deductions it would be a dreadful performance if he takes them down and they've got home games against QPR and Preston as well as going to Wednesday in the next four, they'll be fine.

Blackburn and one from us, Pompey and WBA I think. As bad as they were against us West Brom have had a couple of decent performances and should have beaten Southampton yesterday while Pompey look to be really struggling but we've all seen how quick form can flip. If pushed I think it could be Pompey who get sucked into it, Easter Monday looks absolutely massive with the bottom six all playing each other.

I'd rather WBa and Leics down, makes our 26-27 promo push easier as Blackburn will always be crap with the Venkys in charge

 

[MarkG]

Are we mathematically out of the play offs yet ?

 

[SteMerritt]

Are we mathematically out of the play offs yet ?

Nope, can still catch Ipswich for 4th.

 

[MarkG]

Nope, can still catch Ipswich for 4th.

My basic maths was everyone else draws every match.

 

[BicesterU]

Nope, can still catch Ipswich for 4th.

I haven't done the maths, but for us to get to 65 points and finish 4th, almost every team would need to lose almost all of their games.

Much as I tend to err on the bright side, even I find it hard to believe there'll be that many matches that both teams lose.

I think you're being a bit optimistic to be honest

 

[BicesterU]

My basic maths was everyone else draws every match.

Apart from Ipswich, Hull, Wrexham. If they draw all their games, they'd all finish with more than 65 points and rob us of our playoff place.

I'm not being negative, I just think it's a stretch.

 

[SteMerritt]

I haven't done the maths, but for us to get to 65 points and finish 4th, almost every team would need to lose almost all of their games.

Well no, that isn't really the case. You could have the top 3 win all of their games, then it would be a sliding scale of teams getting points to keep them under 65. For instance WBA could win 8 of their 9 games, Portsmouth could win 8, and so on.

I haven't looked at the fixtures, it may well still be possible in theory.

 

[MarkG]

Sort of connected, but why aren't form guides consistent?
For instance the BBC Championship table has left to right and oldest to most recent fixture

Championship Table and Standings - Football - BBC Sport

Find out which football teams are leading the pack or at the foot of the table in the Championship on BBC Sport

www.bbc.co.uk

Whereas the EFL table has left to right, but going the other way most recent to oldest.

EFL Sky Bet Championship table, results, fixtures, stats

Championship table, results, fixtures, stats

www.efl.com

 

[unification]

It's mid-March. I don't we can confidently say anyone is 'done' yet aside from Sheffield Wednesday.

This was us after the Norwich game just over a month ago:

11v11 league table generator

League tables for any day in football history - going back to the start of the Football League.

www.11v11.com

Four points off even getting to 22nd. A draw, a defeat and three wins and we have climbed a place but more importantly have a much healthier points total. It can all change as our current form has shown.

I maintain that we have it all to do since we have so many playoff-chasing sides to play (plus Millwall who may well be in for the autos too). What I will add is that our starting XI looks really assured now. We've suddenly got a midfield (rather than Vaulks and Brannagan trying to do the work of three players) and we can compete with anyone. The bench rarely makes us stronger but if we are selective with who we bring on, we can at least keep on an even keel.

I'm counting no chickens. Blackburn and WBA looked dire at our place but so did we against Norwich after some dunderheaded decisions from Bloomfield for that game. This league has seen the likes of Norwich and Sheffield United pull away from danger. There's still scope for someone else to do the same.

 

[Kamal]

I fancy Leicester to beat QPR today. I expect Millwall to do a job on Blackburn and hopefully Hull beat West Brom.

 

[Joey]

It's mid-March. I don't we can confidently say anyone is 'done' yet aside from Sheffield Wednesday.

This was us after the Norwich game just over a month ago:

11v11 league table generator

League tables for any day in football history - going back to the start of the Football League.

www.11v11.com

Four points off even getting to 22nd. A draw, a defeat and three wins and we have climbed a place but more importantly have a much healthier points total. It can all change as our current form has shown.

I maintain that we have it all to do since we have so many playoff-chasing sides to play (plus Millwall who may well be in for the autos too). What I will add is that our starting XI looks really assured now. We've suddenly got a midfield (rather than Vaulks and Brannagan trying to do the work of three players) and we can compete with anyone. The bench rarely makes us stronger but if we are selective with who we bring on, we can at least keep on an even keel.

I'm counting no chickens. Blackburn and WBA looked dire at our place but so did we against Norwich after some dunderheaded decisions from Bloomfield for that game. This league has seen the likes of Norwich and Sheffield United pull away from danger. There's still scope for someone else to do the same.

Exactly this, it feels great at the moment but it can all turn so quickly as we've seen, for a starter West Brom have been much better in their two games since we beat them and it wouldn't be entirely surprising to see them get something at home to Hull today.

A positive for us is that some of the playoff chasing teams you mentioned are likely to have nothing to play for when we, especially Watford and Derby who will likely be out of it by then. Ultimately there are so many sliding doors possibilities that it's hard to say who has the better run of fixtures but just concentrating on ourselves we're certainly playing the best of the teams down there and have a settled line up and game plan now. We just need to ride this momentum for as long as possible

 

[RgYellows]

A positive for us is that some of the playoff chasing teams you mentioned are likely to have nothing to play for when we, especially Watford and Derby who will likely be out of it by then.

If results went our way, Southampton could be nine points off the play offs by the time we play them next Saturday.

 

[The Voice Of Reason]

So results so far not bad.
1 PT from safety!!!!

Don't think Leics will survive as I've said many times