The Championship
This season's Coca-Cola Championship is coming to a dramatic end -with the second automatic promtion place turning into a nail-biting three way tussle!
Team
|
Points/Matches
|
Best Price
|
Sporting Index Spread
|
Spreadex Total Points
|
Wolverhampton Wanderers
|
83/43
|
1/16
|
59-59.5
|
89-90.5
|
Birmingham City
|
77/43
|
40/1
|
30-32
|
83-84.5
|
Sheffield United
|
76/43
|
40/1
|
29-31
|
82-83.5
|
Cardiff City
|
73/42
|
100/1
|
23-25
|
80-81.5
|
Reading
|
70/42
|
66/1
|
13-15
|
76-77.5
|
Burnley (*the field)
|
69/43
|
1000/1
|
4-6*
|
74-75.5
|
Swansea
|
65/43
|
1000/1
|
0.1-1
|
70.5-72
|
Preston
|
65/43
|
1000/1
|
0-0.5
|
71-72.5
|
Queens Park Rangers
|
60/43
|
1000/1
|
0-0.5
|
66-67.5
|
Bristol City
|
60/43
|
1000/1
|
0-0.5
|
66.5-68
|
Crystal Palace
|
53/43
|
1000/1
|
0-0.5
|
58-59.5
|
Sporting Index Spread Guide: 1st Place = 60pts, 2nd = 40, 3rd = 30, 4th = 20, 5th = 10, 6th = 5
So Who Will Finish Top Of The Table?
As the season draws to a close, early leaders Wolves look to have the title sewn up, but the race for 2nd, 3rd and 4th is still wide open!
We take a look at the main contenders and weigh up their chances...
Moving Up...
Losing against main rival Birmingham doesn't see that important now for Wolves (59-59.5) since their West Midlands counterparts couldn't take advantage of the narrowed gap. Even losing top scorer Ebanks-Blake for several games and Kightly for the rest of the season hasn't stopped the men in gold. They have an easy run-in against Doncaster and Barnsley -so could win the title by several points.
An amazing recent run of seven wins and three draws has seen Sheffield United (29-31) go up by a remarkable twenty-five points in the market since mid-January. Having found their feet again after losing James Beattie in the transfer window, they are serious challengers once more. Upcoming fixtures against Burnley and Swansea may not be all bad, as wins would deny their rivals points in the final push for promotion. Don't be surprised to see them go up in second on the final day of the season -as their final fixture is against Neil Warnock's Crystal Palace! What price he plays his youth team?
Another of the Championship's form teams are Cardiff (23-25). They still have a chance of automatic promotion, but would surely settle for a good run into the playoffs. Leading scorer Ross McCormack is on fire at the moment and the Bluebirds will be hoping his goals will put the pressure on both Brum and Sheffield United over the last four games of the season.
Moving Down ...
'Sleeping giant' Birmingham (30-32) have dropped three points in the Sporting Index market -having failed to build upon their fantastic ten-man victory against Wolves, they proceeded to scrape draws against both Charlton and Plymouth. Now they have a real battle on their hands to keep at bay the late surges of both Sheffield United and Cardiff.
Following their win over Wolves on 27th January, Reading (13-15) have fallen apart -winning only 13 points from their last 13 games! This isn't even lower table form, never mind good enough to win promotion. One reason for their slump might be the lack of goals from striker Kevin Doyle -he has has found the net only four times in twenty-five games, after scoring fourteen times in the previous seventeen outings.
Their fall has mirrored Sheffield united's rise and the Royals have gone down more than 20 points in the spreads since they were joint favourites back in January.
Non-movers and New Additions...
Fantastic home form has seen Swansea (0.1-1) climb the league table, but terrible away form and too many early season draws has seen the Swans fail to get into the playoff positions.
So Who Should I Back?
With 3-4 games of the season still to play, there is plenty of time for a team to pinch that all important second automatic promotion spot, 40 points on the Sporting Index spread (and the promised land of the Premier League).
Our choices would be Cardiff (Buy @ 25) and Sheffield United (Buy @ 32) -both of whom are capable of going unbeaten until the end of the season.