Championship preview: Crucial game for Blackburn and Coventry
Blackburn v Coventry
Blackburn fans may not be feeling overly confident about their chances of seeing their first Premier League promotion in more than one decade after a failure to score at home to mid-table Hull City (0-0) saw them end the weekend with the Championship’s third-longest winless streak (D2, L2).
Three uncharacteristic scoring blanks in April have left them on the verge of falling out of the top six and potentially being replaced by their upcoming opponents if it continues.
After being expected to win by the bookmakers on three of those four occasions, their favouritism over their nearest rivals in the standings Coventry City cannot be taken for granted, especially after they also lost the reverse H2H 1-0 in November.
QPR v Norwich
Queens Park Rangers slumped to a 3-0 Championship defeat against Coventry at the weekend which left them one point above the relegation zone, with manager Gareth Ainsworth admitting his side were “all at sea” as they conceded twice after the 85th minute.
Remarkably, the same QPR side that sailed to the top of the table in October is now struggling to stay afloat in England’s second tier with four games remaining.
As for Norwich, their play-off hopes took a severe battering on Friday night as they were thrashed 5-1 by Middlesbrough, and having won just one of their last seven games (D3, L3), they’re losing form at the worst possible time.
Boss David Wagner insisted his side “made some horrendous mistakes” as he put his youthful side to the sword before a second away game in quick succession.
Swansea v Preston
After a 1-0 victory against Huddersfield stretched Swansea’s unbeaten run to five league games (W4, D1), the season is nearing its end at a bad time for the Swans.
Unfortunately for Russell Martin and his side, their purple patch just comes too late in the campaign to make a realistic play-off push, and with two key men in Ryan Manning and Joel Latibeaudiere looking likely to leave for free in the summer, Martin faces a big summer ready to push on again next season.
Preston hit the road for the second time in quick succession, travelling to South Wales after another gruelling trip at the weekend, this time to South London where they went down 2-0 against Millwall.
Just a point shy of the play-off places, North End boss Ryan Lowe insists the primary aim for his side remains to “finish in the top-half” as he perhaps tries to take the pressure off his players.
Watford v Cardiff
A 2-0 win over Bristol City likely came too late to salvage Watford’s hopes of gatecrashing the play-offs, with the Hornets four points adrift of the top-six with just 12 left to play for ahead of the midweek fixtures.
Boss Chris Wilder admitted ‘we’re not thinking about the play-offs at all’, and with that victory over the Robins their only win in the last five, it’s easy to see why (D2, L2).
Relegation-threatened Cardiff appear unlikely to trouble that record, having lost five of the last six H2Hs between the sides.
Motivation won’t be in short order, though, with Sabri Lamouchi’s men fighting for their Championship lives after a 4-1 defeat at Sheffield United left them above the drop zone on goal difference alone.
Middlesbrough v Hull
Middlesbrough kept their fading automatic promotion hopes alive as they notched their second five-goal haul of the season in a resounding 5-1 victory over Norwich last Friday.
That result ensured that no side has scored more than Boro’s 60 goals since Michael Carrick’s appointment back in October, and that’s a distant league-best ahead of the round, 11 more than promoted Burnley.
With safety assured and no promotion prospects, Hull haven’t quite got their vacation sandals on just yet as they showed when holding play-off chasing Blackburn to a goalless draw last time out.
Liam Rosenior’s Tigers have proven incredibly tough to break down of late, losing just one of their last eight league games (W2, D5, L1) and that was against none other than runaway league leaders, Burnley.
Reading v Luton
Although they’re without a manager and still reeling from a six-point deduction, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest Reading still have the fight to stay in the Championship.
The Royals sacked manager Paul Ince last week and remain in the relegation zone on goal difference after going without a win for nine league matches, but four draws from their past five games, including one at home against Premier League-bound Burnley last time out (0-0) would have lifted spirits in the camp.
Luton look to have all but secured a play-off place after their recent 2-0 win at Rotherham meant they finished the last round 12 points clear of seventh place with only four rounds to go.
There is still a slim chance of automatic promotion for the Hatters, but second-placed Sheffield United do hold a five-point cushion and one game in hand.
But even if that proves a step too far, Luton’s run of ten games unbeaten (W7, D3) - their best at this level for 40 years - deserves plenty of accolades.
