The Sky Bet Championship season is fast approaching its crunch-point with top two Leeds and West Brom within touching distance of promotion and as many as eight teams battling relegation.
By Thursday evening, the picture could be significantly clearer after the 44th round of fixtures.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the major midweek talking points.
Elland back?
? 8 games? 5 clean sheets pic.twitter.com/TMCGvg1VGA
— Leeds United (@LUFC) July 12, 2020
Victory for leaders Leeds over bottom-of-the-table Barnsley at Elland Road on Thursday night would secure their return to the top flight should third-placed Brentford fail to beat Preston 24 hours earlier. Even victory for the Bees would give them a purely notional chance of overhauling Marcelo Bielsa’s men on goal difference. Leeds’ 16-year absence from the Premier League has included three seasons in League One, and their 2001 Champions League semi-final showdown with Valencia seems a distant memory.
Top of the form
Match Highlights: Derby County 1 Brentford 3
W W W W W W WOllie Watkins’s 24th of the season and some Said Benrahma brilliance kept the pressure well and truly on at the top of the Sky Bet ChampionshipOn the road with Simplexity Travel #BrentfordFC #DERBRE
Posted by Brentford FC on Sunday, July 12, 2020
Forest’s final hurdle?
3️⃣ games to go…
How the top half of the table looks heading into the final three ? #NFFC pic.twitter.com/7T4ISxPDPH
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) July 13, 2020
Only two play-off places remain up for grabs with Leeds, West Brom, Brentford and Fulham already assured of top-six finishes regardless of what happens during what remains of the campaign. Fifth-placed Forest would join them on Wednesday evening with a home win over Swansea, one of seven sides covered by a spread of just four points from Cardiff in sixth down to Blackburn in 12th.
Black clouds over Yorkshire
“It’s all about us. It’s paramount that we get the results we need to stay in the division.”#hcafc | #theTigers
— Hull City (@HullCity) July 12, 2020
The traditional Yorkshire Ridings has been represented consistently over the history of the Premier League, but no fewer than four former top-flight clubs situated within its boundaries are in danger of slipping into League One over the next fortnight. Barnsley have slipped to the foot of the table, while Hull, who travel to Wigan on Tuesday, have joined them in the bottom three with Huddersfield and Middlesbrough, who go to Sheffield Wednesday and Reading respectively the same evening, just two points clear of the bottom three.
Nathan Jones had been gone too long
