Championship preview: Wigan face drop as Millwall push for play-offs
Blackpool v West Brom
Blackpool’s slender survival hopes lived on for another day with a 1-0 win in a bottom-two battle against fellow strugglers Wigan. Relegation remains very much on the cards for the Seasiders given the four-point gap to safety with as many games remaining, yet caretaker manager Steven Dobbie believes his side have given themselves a “fighting chance” in this game against West Bromwich Albion after their narrow success at the weekend.
Looking to avoid such a fate are a West Brom side who boosted their promotion prospects with a come-from-behind win in a Midlands derby against Stoke last time out. That victory also ended a woeful seven-game winless run of competitive away games for Carlos Corberán’s men (D1, L6) as the Spaniard praised his men for scoring goals with an admirable “desire, passion and mentality”.
Rotherham v Burnley
Just three points clear of the Championship drop zone, albeit with a game in hand, Rotherham look set for a nervy ending to their campaign. Now anxiously looking over their shoulder and desperately needing points to move away from the dreaded dotted line, table-topping Burnley visit at an inopportune time as far as Rotherham are concerned given the Millers have lost the last four H2H meetings.
Already promoted to next season’s Premier League, Burnley’s lifeless 0-0 draw away at Rotherham’s fellow relegation contenders Reading at the weekend perhaps offered a sign of what’s to come now the Clarets have so little to play for. The title is all but wrapped up and can be secured here by simply bettering Sheffield United’s result against Bristol City, but after speaking about “rewarding” fringe members of the squad, it remains uncertain just how serious Vincent Kompany is in chasing a record-equalling Championship points tally.
Sheffield United v Bristol City
A come-from-behind 4-1 win over Cardiff on Saturday gave promotion hopefuls Sheffield United a five-point cushion over third-placed Luton Town with a game in hand. Boss Paul Heckingbottom spoke about being in “a position where it’s about us” as the hosts look to juggle their priorities ahead of an upcoming trip to Wembley for their first FA Cup semi-final since 2014 against Manchester City.
The visitors fell to a 2-0 defeat against Watford on Saturday, leaving them firmly in a mid-table spot and nearly equidistant from the relegation and the play-off zones. Manager Nigel Pearson spoke of a disappointing result despite “playing really well,” but the real challenge would be to lift his side when there’s little to gain or lose.
Stoke v Wigan
Stoke City still await mathematical confirmation that they’ll renew their Championship status for next season, after a 2-1 loss last time out to West Brom made it three successive games without a win (D1, L2). Now sitting in 16th on 52 points, all Stoke can realistically hope for is bettering last season's tally of 62 points with four games to go, that being their best haul since re-entering the Championship in 2018.
That trend seems destined to continue, as Wigan don’t seem to be putting up much of a fight for their survival after suffering their third consecutive scoreless defeat in the “battle of the bottom two” when losing 1-0 to Blackpool over the weekend. Time appears to have run out, as that result means another defeat here, coupled with results elsewhere going against Shaun Maloney’s men, will finally see them officially get relegated, a conclusion that has seemed inevitable for a long time.
Sunderland v Huddersfield
Manager Tony Mowbray has admitted his Sunderland side are loving every minute of their exciting climax to the Championship season. The Black Cats came from behind to beat Birmingham 2-1 on Saturday, with the boss praising his side for “finding a way” to win, despite having left-back Dennis Cirkin sent off late on.
The visit of Huddersfield might provide Sunderland with the perfect chance to make it back-to-back successes at home, given the Terriers' total of 13 away defeats is already their seasonal joint-high in the second tier this century. The most recent of those was a 1-0 reverse against Swansea on Saturday, when the Yorkshire outfit managed just one shot on target and saw a five-match unbeaten run come to an end (W3, D2).
Millwall v Birmingham
Millwall finally posted a win at the fifth time of asking at the weekend (W1, D2, L2), with a 2-0 victory over play-off rivals Preston serving to consolidate their top-six spot. It’s highly unlikely that Millwall will drop out of the top-six after this midweek round regardless of the result here, but despite their cushy position, boss Gary Rowett described their last four games as “must-win” encounters.
The Blues haven’t had the same success in midweek, conceding at least twice in each game during a four-match losing streak of league games played on Tuesdays, but things weren’t much better on Saturday either as John Eustace’s men went down 2-1 against a ten-man Sunderland despite taking the lead. Even so, Birmingham are all but mathematically safe, and with no promotion prospects either they may have their proverbial sandals on during the run-in.
