Championship play-offs: Reading, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Fulham - who will make it?
Friday 28 April 2017 14:32, UK
Four teams can still make the Championship play-offs as we approach the season finale. Who will sneak in and who will fall agonisingly short?
With Newcastle having secured a return to the Premier League after Monday night's victory over Preston, the automatic promotion berths have been finalised, but behind there is a potential battle royale in the offing.
Huddersfield guaranteed their place in the end of season showpiece with a win over Wolves on Tuesday night, but there are still three places up for grabs with four teams in the mix.
Leeds looked set make sure of a spot in the top six, as they continued their resurgence under Garry Monk, but as Chris Woods' goals have dried up, so have the wins, with four defeats in their last six threatening to undo all their early good work.
It is not only the Whites' poor form that has seen them slip into seventh, three points off the top six. Four wins on the bounce from Fulham, scoring 13 goals in the process, has propelled them up to sixth and, most importantly at this late, late stage, gives them that momentum that could prove decisive when the knockout games get under way.
The Cottagers' superior goal difference means that one win will almost certainly be enough, regardless of how Leeds fair, and what better way to do it than against west London rivals Brentford on Saturday.
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The Bees are in good form themselves so will be no pushovers, and should they sneak victory at Craven Cottage, it will come down to a final day showdown with Sheffield Wednesday, who could have already sealed a play-off spot with victory over Ipswich on Saturday. The Owls are the Championship's form team, having won six in a row, and even a point at Portman Road will likely to be enough to see them secure that play-off spot.
The play-offs are such a lottery. Finishing third is technically most desirable, but that could mean facing in-form Fulham or Leeds, who are desperate to return to the big time.
After Huddersfield's win on Tuesday, Reading sit in fourth, with a goal difference of plus one, having conceded a remarkable 62 goals this season. It would take a monumental slip for them to miss out on the play-offs, being six points ahead on Leeds, with Wigan up next.
There's plenty of twists and turns to come.
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