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Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

What Swansea City need to reach Championship play-offs as Sunderland, West Brom, Norwich City and others still in the race

The Swansea City optimists are well and truly dreaming, and even the pessimists have been glancing at their calculators of late.

Russell Martin's men have dragged themselves right back into Championship play-off contention following a mesmerising run that has seen them earn 19 of the previous 21 points on offer.

But what do they actually need to achieve the unthinkable? We took a closer look.

READ MORE: Russell Martin calls for forward thinking with summer strategy as Swansea City boss aims for 'next level'

Which teams are in the running?

Burnley have already clinched promotion while Sheffield United, Luton Town and Middlesbrough will make up the rest of the top four.

It means there are two top-six places still up for grabs, and following the latest round of results, a total of eight teams are in the running.

Coventry City and Sunderland are currently in the driving seat, although Millwall are breathing down their necks while Blackburn Rovers and West Brom both have a game in hand over the rest of the chasing pack.

Then you have outsiders Preston North End, Norwich City and, of course, Swansea City.

How does the play-off race currently look?

As mentioned, the top four places are all-but sorted, although these are the eight sides vying for fifth and sixth spot:

Championship play-off race

5 Coventry City - P 44, GD 10, PTS 66

6 Sunderland - P 44, GD 10, PTS 65

7 Millwall - P 44, GD 7, PTS 65

8 Blackburn Rovers - P 43, GD -2, PTS 65

9 West Brom - P 43, GD 8, PTS 63

10 Preston North End - P 44, GD -8, PTS 63

11 Norwich City - P 44, GD 5, PTS 62

12 Swansea City - P 44, GD 3, PTS 62

Who are the favourites?

As the current table shows, Coventry and Sunderland are in the box seat, although Blackburn and West Brom have three games left to play unlike the other six teams who all have just two.

Coventry are the only side who are odds on (8/15) with SkyBet to seal a play-off place, and they are closely followed by Sunderland (5/4), Millwall (13/8) and Blackburn (7/4).

Then come West Brom at 3/1 while Norwich (28/1), Preston (33/1) and Swansea (40/1) are all much further adrift. Remarkably, prior to the weekend, the Swans were 250/1 to finish in the top six, and they weren't even listed in the running for promotion, although that changed after their emphatic 3-0 triumph over Norwich.

Following a seven-game unbeaten run which includes six wins, Swansea are now 150/1 to be promoted into the Premier League, the same price as Preston.

Norwich are 50/1 to go up while Blackburn and West Brom are 16/1 and 12/1 respectively. As for the others outside the top four, Sunderland and Millwall are both at 10/1 to be playing in the top-flight next season while Coventry are at 7/1 as things stand.

What are the remaining fixtures and what do Swansea need to happen?

Coventry City: Birmingham City (H), Middlesbrough (A)

Sunderland: Watford (H), Preston North End (A)

Millwall: Blackpool (A), Blackburn Rovers (H)

Blackburn Rovers: Burnley (H), Luton Town (H), Millwall (A)

West Brom: Sheffield United (A), Norwich City (H), Swansea City (A)

Preston North End: Sheffield United (A), Sunderland (H)

Norwich City: West Brom (A), Blackpool (H)

Swansea City: Hull City (A), West Brom (H)

As the fixture list shows, there are a fair few tasty head-to-head battles still to come while half of the eight sides involved still have to play at least one current top four team during their run-in.

First and foremost, Swansea need to win both of their matches to reach the 68-point mark, and while even that may not be enough, it will give them a fighting chance of extending their season.

Assuming Swansea do their bit, two Coventry defeats would be ideal, although the Sky Blues could pick up one point, or even two (as long as there's a huge shift in goal difference).

If Sunderland drop points in both of their final two games, Swansea will finish above them with two wins. Martin's men could even edge out the Black Cats if Tony Mowbray's men win one and lose one of their final two games (again, as long as there's a massive goal difference swing). Should Sunderland draw with Preston, that would also rule the Lilywhites out of the running, so a stalemate between those two looks to be the perfect scenario. However, a Preston win would definitely be preferred if Ryan Lowe's outfit drop points against Sheffield United (more on this shortly).

Millwall need to realistically drop points against Blackpool and, at best, draw with Blackburn. A Rovers win over Millwall combined with defeats to Burnley and Luton for Blackburn could definitely prove fruitful given that Swansea have a better goal difference than the Ewood Park outfit, but a draw certainly works.

Still following? Good.

A Sheffield United win over West Brom would massively help as it would mean Swansea beating the Baggies on the final day (along with Hull at the weekend) would rule out Carlos Corberan's troops. In between those fixtures, West Brom could end Norwich's hopes by either beating or drawing with the Canaries. Should David Wagner's men defeat West Brom, they would miss out by dropping points to Blackpool on the final day (or if Swansea overturned a two-goal swing in the event of a Norwich win).

That just leaves Preston who will be unable to reach 68 points if they don't beat Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday.

Simple really, isn't it?

What has Russell Martin said?

When asked after the triumph over his former club Norwich on Saturday if fans can still dream of a top six place, the Swans boss said: "I hope so, it'll be nice for them.

"We have to win two games still. We're on an outstanding run, to win six in seven games, five clean sheets in that after the run we went on, I'm so grateful for that.

"The players are having a lot of fun and we're having a lot of fun watching them. We've just got to keep that going now."

(All odds, courtesy of SkyBet, correct at time of publishing.)

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