Assumptions are dangerous. Just ask Steve Bruce. “There’s going to be a lot of twists and turns before it all finally ends,” says the Aston Villa manager, who regards the Championship promotion race as an unpredictable game of snakes and ladders. The same can be said of the battle to avoid relegation but although nothing will be decided over the next few days, the Easter weekend should offer some clues as to who will be where when the music stops.
Can the unlikely chemistry between Traoré, Bamford and Pulis propel Middlesbrough into the play-offs?
Quite possibly. On form Adama Traoré is arguably the Championship’s most dangerous player and no left-back will relish facing the former Barcelona and Villa winger. Always an almost elemental force of nature, Traoré has added endproduct to his game and is scoring and creating goals. Patrick Bamford is a principal beneficiary. Following three years of alarming stagnation, the former Chelsea forward has scored eight goals in his past six games. Friday evening’s game against Wolves, the leaders, at the Riverside promises to provide a useful litmus test of progress since Tony Pulis succeeded the sacked Garry Monk as the Boro manager at Christmas. Perhaps significantly, the Teesside club have taken only six points from a possible 33 against sides in the top eight. Can Traoré, Bamford and company start changing that narrative?
Friday 30 March Barnsley v Bristol City; Brentford v Sheffield Utd; Cardiff v Burton Albion; Derby v Sunderland (7.45pm) Sky Sports Football; Leeds v Bolton; Middlesbrough v Wolverhampton (5.30pm) Sky Sports Football; Millwall v Nottm Forest (1pm); Norwich v Fulham; Reading v QPR (5.30pm); Sheffield Wed v Preston
Saturday 31 March Birmingham v Ipswich; Hull v Aston Villa (5.30pm) Sky Sports Football
Monday 2 April Bristol City v Brentford; Burton Albion v Middlesbrough; Ipswich v Millwall; Nottm Forest v Barnsley; Preston v Derby (12.45pm) Sky Sports Football; QPR v Norwich; Sheffield Utd v Cardiff (7.45pm) Sky Sports Football; Sunderland v Sheffield Wed
Tuesday 3 April Aston Villa v Reading; Bolton v Birmingham (8pm); Fulham v Leeds Sky Sports Football; Wolverhampton v Hull
Might Sessegnon, Mitrovic and Cairney help Fulham hijack an automatic promotion place?
If Wolves are almost within touching distance of the Premier League, a Cardiff wobble could see Neil Warnock’s hitherto remarkably consistent side overtaken. For a while it seemed as if an apparently renascent Aston Villa illuminated by Robert Snodgrass’s invention, incision and inspiration would be the ones to do it but successive defeats by Queens Park Rangers and Bolton have dented such hope, suggesting the mantle has now been passed to Fulham. Both teams are a theoretically bridgeable seven points behind Cardiff but Slavisa Jokanovic’s players have the greater momentum. It helps they have Ryan Sessegnon on their side. There are rumours of a £40m bid for the 17-year-old from Manchester United this summer. Considering he has scored 14 league goals this season despite playing mainly at left-back, such talk may not be overblown. If Sessegnon’s recent shift to a more attacking role has helped Jokanovic’s cause, so have Tom Cairney’s return to midfield – and form – and Aleksandar Mitrovic’s January arrival on loan from Newcastle. The Serbia striker has scored seven times for Fulham and looks increasingly unstoppable. One caveat, though: Rafael Benítez is a not too shabby judge of a player and there are good reasons why Newcastle’s manager never trusted “Mitro”. Do not bet against him being sent off at a vital juncture.
Can reshaping Birmingham around Jota help Monk ensure survival?
Points-wise it’s terribly tight at the foot of the table but optimism about “great escapes” remains distinctly skinny at Nigel Clough’s Burton and the football tragedy that is Chris Coleman’s Sunderland. Garry Monk, having begun the season by pledging to get Middlesbrough promoted, is now fixated on keeping Birmingham up. The catalyst could be his decision to make Jota’s creativity the focal point of his side. The gifted Spaniard – the club’s record £6m-plus signing from Brentford last summer but a player who did not enjoy a good relationship with Monk’s predecessor, Steve Cotterill – scored twice in the 3-0 win against Hull last time out. Jota surely has a big role to play as Birmingham host Ipswich on Saturday and then visit Bolton on Tuesday and Burton thereafter. Ironically Monk was left frustrated and disappointed when his attempts to transport Jota to Boro fell through last summer.
Will Derby wake up?
When it comes to blowing promotion races, Derby have form. Now under Gary Rowett’s management, they seem to be at it again. After winning only one of their past 10 games, and none of the past seven, they could do with getting their act together at home to Sunderland on Friday night and at play-off hopefuls Preston on Monday. With Rowett’s side and Boro – fifth and sixth respectively, but both with 62 points – still eminently catchable, Alex Neil’s Preston, like Bristol City, Sheffield United and Millwall, have much to play for.
Can Morais reassert control at Barnsley and dent Bristol City’s hopes?
Friday afternoon’s game at Oakwell does not lack subplots. Quite apart from the former Barnsley manager Lee Johnson taking promotion-chasing City to his relegation-threatened former club there is considerable turmoil behind the scenes in South Yorkshire. José Morais, Barnsley’s manager and a former sidekick to his compatriot José Mourinho at Internazionale, Real Madrid and Chelsea, has confirmed his players have spent part of this week holding meetings to discuss their “unhappiness” with his tactics and rotation. Morais hopes the air will now be “cleared”. We shall see.
