The destiny of last year’s Championship title was decided within two days of Easter Monday. Sunday marked the first anniversary of Leicester’s promotion, at which point they were nine points clear of second-placed Burnley, 20 ahead of Derby County in third and 31 clear of Brighton in eighth place. How different this year’s table looks, with only seven points dividing first from eighth and only one of last year’s glory-seekers competing again.
That team is Derby, currently least convincing of all the top-flight aspirants. At the start of March they were top of the table with a two-point cushion and in fine form but they have taken three points from a possible 18 since. Their players’ body language as the final whistle blew on Good Friday’s 2-2 draw at home to Watford, in which they led by a man and a goal with 15 minutes to play, was telling: the battle for automatic promotion had just lost another combatant.
“I’m really disappointed and I’m really angry,” Steve McClaren said. “It’s a fight now to get in the play-offs. I’m not even thinking about that because at the present moment we are not performing well enough to win enough games to go anywhere.”
Barring a mass loss of form the top two will come from the four teams within two points of each other at the summit – Middlesbrough, Bournemouth, Norwich City and Watford – while Brentford, Derby, Ipswich Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers fight for play-off places. For so long unfancied, Eddie Howe’s Cherries could well end up on top of the title cake: one point off the summit with the division’s best goal difference, they have no more matches against top-10 sides and on Monday host Birmingham, whom they beat 8-0 at St Andrew’s in October.
“I have never known it as tight as this. It’s just crazy,” Howe said. “Everyone is hoping they can be the team to break away but, with so few games to go, I think it looks unlikely. It is going to be down to the team which holds its nerve the most and maintains their performance levels. We are hoping that can be us.”
The leaders, Middlesbrough, have won five and lost four of their last 10 league games and must still visit two of their title rivals, starting with Watford on Monday lunchtime. “This game is very important,” said their manager, Aitor Karanka. “I made a mistake when I thought it would be Derby, Bournemouth and us fighting it out at the top. We are in a very good position but we have six games now which are very important.”
Norwich’s improvement under Alex Neil, who has lost two and won 11 of 16 matches since his appointment in January, rivals Bournemouth’s blossoming as the story of the season. After Monday’s home game against 12th-place Sheffield Wednesday their only other opponents in the top half of the table are Boro, who visit on 17 April. “I’ll be expecting the very best of us,” he said. “All I can ask is for everything they’ve got in terms of them trying to do their very best. We’ve got six games now, and we’ve got to go and try to win all six.”
Amid all the uncertainty one decision could be made on Monday: victory for Rotherham, who play 17th-placed Brighton at home, would mean that by the time Blackpool play Reading on Tuesday the Tangerines would already be relegated.
It would also further endanger the other sides battling to escape from the bottom three. Wigan Athletic host Derby on Monday having secured four wins in their last 10 league games – as many as in the previous 30 – bringing at least a measure of optimism to their run-in. Millwall, still a point above them, next play Watford on Saturday and must overcome poor form and a testing schedule. The match between them and Wigan at The Den on 14 April looms.
