1 There are four early kick-offs in the Championship over the course of the weekend. All four are feisty local derbies.
The two on Saturday see FA Cup semi-finalists Millwall travel to Charlton for a 12.30 start, while in West Yorkshire, Leeds host Huddersfield Town.
Millwall are 17th in the division on 44 points and have games in hand. On last season’s figures, when Portsmouth and Coventry were relegated with 40 points, Millwall would be safe already.
But the bottom of the table is so competitive, this looks more like season 2007-08 when Leicester City went down on 52 points. Just three points covered the seven teams above Leicester then and with Barnsley, Bristol City and Peterborough United refusing to accept the roles allotted to them, it might take 53 points again to stay up.
Putting up a fight: Both Bristol City (left) and Barnsley (right) have been picking up points of late2 Blackburn Rovers, beaten by Millwall on Wednesday night in the FA Cup quarter-final replay, in front of just 8,635 at Ewood Park, can expect a different atmosphere – and larger crowd – when Burnley rumble into town on Sunday. Neither club has 52 or 53 points yet and an away win would send a shiver across Ewood. Blackburn have taken three points from the last 18 in the Championship.
Struggling: Blackburn were knocked out of the FA Cup in front of a sparse crowd at Ewood Park3 Also on Sunday lunchtime, on the south coast, is another Championship derby. Quite a distance separates Brighton from Crystal Palace, but they don’t like each other.
Palace won this 3-1 last season with Glenn Murray, who joined Palace from Brighton, scoring the third. Murray scored seven goals in total for the Eagles last season; he arrives at his former club with 30 in 35 appearances this campaign.
High hopes: Murray rises to head home against Brighton at Selhurst Park earlier in the season4 Because it is so close, the Championship contains at least three other intriguing fixtures. Cardiff City lead the division by four points and have a game in hand but the red Bluebirds have won one of the last five and needed a 90th-minute equaliser at home to Leicester on Tuesday night.
A visit to 19th-place Sheffield Wednesday would seem like a straightforward trip to get Cardiff back to winning ways. Of course, that does not take into account the fact that Wednesday not only beat Leicester last Saturday (away), but also that at Hillsborough recently both Brighton and Palace have departed beaten. That Wednesday manager Dave Jones was previously Cardiff manager may also have some impact on the occasion.
Revenge mission: Dave Jones will be looking to see off his former side at Hillsborough on Saturday5 North west from Sheffield, on Humberside, Hull City (second) take on Nottingham Forest (sixth). Billy Davies has Forest marching: five straight wins have featured three clean sheets. Hull have won their last four at home, scoring 10 goals along the way. Something has to give.
Something's got to give: In-form Nottingham Forest (right) travel to Hull6 Something may also give at Molineux, where the bottom two meet. Wolves and Bristol City are separated by a goal difference of two. City are rejuvenated under Sean O’Driscoll and are unbeaten in their last four. Wolves are in peril. They have won one game since Christmas, though it was the one before last, at Millwall. Wolves manager Dean Saunders has labelled this ‘must-win’. If they don’t, Wolves could go down and this could be a decisive day in that fall. On paper their run-in looks tougher than Bristol City’s.
Must-win: Wolves are staring into the abyss with just nine games left of the season7 Angst is not confined to the Championship. Aston Villa v QPR is a nerve-shredder for fans, managers and players of both clubs. QPR finished fourth-bottom on 37 points last May; Villa were fifth-bottom on 38. A QPR victory, which would be their third in a row, would scare the life out of not just Villa, but any of the bottom six on 30 points or fewer. A home win would take Villa seven points ahead of QPR – and assuming Manchester United defeat managerless Reading at Old Trafford – seven points ahead of Brian McDermott’s former team, too.
Darren Bent has been injured but were he to return and leap off the bench to score, Harry Redknapp would surely have another ‘Sandra’ moment.
Old acquaintances: Redknapp managed Bent when the pair were at Tottenham8 If there is such a thing in the Premier League as a ‘race for fifth’ then it probably features Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and West Brom. Only Everton are at home on Saturday – against Manchester City. How will David Moyes’s team respond after the dismal FA Cup display against Wigan? And where will Marouane Fellaini spend the afternoon?
Hair we go: Fellaini (right) was out of sorts against Wigan last weekend9 Oldham Athletic have generated a lot of happy publicity for themselves – and a good amount of cash – via their FA Cup run. But life in League One is a daily reality-check. Oldham, albeit with two games in hand, are in the relegation zone. Their finances are tight, even with the FA Cup, and so on Thursday they agreed to let their captain Dean Furman join table-toppers Doncaster Rovers.
It will not go down well locally. Furman would have been a free agent in the summer, so the club are ensuring a fee from Doncaster. But Oldham supporters will be asking: at what cost?
Moving on: Dean Furman (centre) has joined League One table-toppers Doncaster10 Were Edgar Davids to have a similar reaction to the words ‘Accrington Stanley’ as that lad did in the famous advert, he could be forgiven.
But that is where the former Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Tottenham (and Crystal Palace) player takes his Barnet squad on Saturday. Accrington are 92nd in the four divisions but only five points cover the bottom seven clubs, one of which is Barnet.
Accrington lost 3-0 at home on Tuesday to Fleetwood despite starting with a front two of James Beattie and Francis Jeffers. Their presence suggests Stanley stardust; unpaid players’ wages for the past fortnight suggest otherwise.
Six-pointer: Davids takes his Barnet side to Accrington for a relegation scrapMore... Lewes posters cooking up a storm: Nigella's club uses iconic images from Banksy, the Sex Pistols and 1966 World Cup Final in posters to publicise matches Rio returns! It was a 'no-brainer' to bring him back, says Hodgson as England recall star for crunch World Cup qualifying double WARNING: History shows changing your manager this late in the season only leads to one thing... RELEGATION! (so, the Championship beckons for Reading)
