With just nine games remaining in the 2024/25 season, the race for promotion from the Championship to the Premier League is hotting up once again.
Leeds re-established a two-point lead at the summit on Wednesday night after a 2-0 win over Millwall, thanks to a Jake Cooper own goal and a strike from Ao Tanaka.
Sheffield United had leapfrogged them into top spot last weekend, but could only draw 1-1 with fellow promotion hopefuls Bristol City on Tuesday night. Tyrese Campbell scored for the third game in a row to put the Blades in front, but there was no way back after Mark Sykes equalised late on.
Next up on Sunday is a crunch Steel City derby, which is live on Sky Sports...
Sunday 16th March 12:20pm Kick off 12:30pm
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Burnley are hot on their heels, just one point behind in third, though they too missed a chance to climb on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw with West Brom.
And Sunderland are hanging on just behind them, seven points further back, still clinging onto ever-decreasing hopes of securing a top-two finish that looked a certainty in the first few months of the season.
Here's a look at the Championship form table...
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Here's a look at the each of the top four's remaining fixtures - as well as the average position of their next five opponents...
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And here's a closer look at the front-runners for promotion to the Premier League...
1st - Leeds, 79 points
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LEEDS
Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Leeds United and Millwall
Naturally hurt by last season's play-off final defeat to Southampton, Leeds have barely put a foot wrong in trying to secure a return to the Premier League this term. Daniel Farke's side have the best home record in the Championship, the third-best away record and are predicted by OPTA to finish the season with 97 points.
With 74 goals scored, they are the highest scorers in the top four divisions of English football and though they have lost four league games, each has been by a 1-0 scoreline.
The latest of those - against Portsmouth on Sunday - opened the door for Sheffield United to leapfrog them into top spot, but a win against Millwall took the Whites two points clear again and gave them the upper hand in the automatic promotion race.
Saturday 15th March 12:25pm Kick off 12:30pm
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2nd - Sheffield United, 77 points
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield Utd and Bristol City
An independent commission handed Sheffield United a two-point deduction last April after the club defaulted on payments to other clubs during their promotion season in 2022/23 - but that deficit was wiped out on the opening day and the Blades were flying thereafter. After 15 wins from the first 22 matches, they were top at Christmas.
But with the margins so fine at this level, defeats to Burnley and Sunderland, as well as a draw with West Brom, saw them give that lead up quickly and give Leeds an invitation to take top spot, which they duly took up.
Nine wins in 11 league games since January 4 has done them the world of good, but they missed the chance to seize control of the promotion race with the aforementioned draw against Bristol City.
"It might be an important point," said Blades boss Chris Wilder after that result. "It keeps us ticking along. It's not what we wanted, but we have to suck it up, take our medicine and move on to the next one."
3rd - Burnley, 75 points
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Burnley and West Bromwich Albion
There have been no signs of a hangover after relegation from the Premier League last term for Burnley. An opening 4-1 win over Luton, then a 5-0 victory over Cardiff showed that, and, since the start of September, Scott Parker's side have not dropped out of the top four.
Central to their success has been their incredible defensive record, which has seen them keep 26 clean sheets and concede just 11 league goals, one of which came in Tuesday's heated 1-1 draw with West Brom. The record for the fewest goals conceded in a single Championship season looks increasingly likely to be shattered.
The Clarets are maintaining a steady pace just behind the current top two and will be poised to try and take advantage of any slips when they can.
4th - Sunderland, 69 points
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Sunderland and Preston North End
Sunderland led the way at the top of the Championship in the early months after nine wins from their first 12, but picking up 16 points from a possible 36 through November and December knocked them down to fourth, where they have sat ever since.
The Black Cats' momentum was hit by defeats to Leeds and Hull in February - the first time they had lost back-to-back games all season - but valuable wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff - the latter thanks to Chris Mepham's first goal since October 2020 - just about kept them in the automatic promotion hunt.
The gap to second grew to seven points on Tuesday, despite Romaine Mundle's superb equaliser earning a point against Preston, but for now, they still retain an element of hope of getting there.
The play-off race
As many as nine teams below the top four are still in the race to finish in the play-off places come May, with automatic promotion essentially out of reach at this point.
Frank Lampard's Coventry, who sit seventh on 56 points, are in brilliant form. The Sky Blues won three of his first nine games in charge after replacing Mark Robins in November, but have been a force to be reckoned with since mid-January and have now won nine of their last 11.
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Derby County and Coventry City
They were denied a sixth straight league win for the first time in their history on Tuesday night, however, as they came away from a trip to struggling Derby on Tuesday night with a 2-0 defeat.
One point above them in fifth are Bristol City, who beat Norwich 2-1 on Friday night.
West Brom occupy the final play-off spot, level on points with Coventry, while Middlesbrough and Blackburn sit eighth and ninth, with 53 and 52 points respectively.
Friday 14th March 7:30pm
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Sheffield Wednesday are still just about in the picture after coming from behind to beat Norwich 3-2 on Tuesday. That puts them five points outside the top six and two points ahead of the Canaries.
There is even a case to be made that Norwich, Watford and Millwall could mount late charges, but those hopes could be extinguished before the international break.
Saturday 15th March 11:00am Kick off 12:30pm
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Championship Expected table
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Championship Predicted table
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Essential EFL Podcast: Predictions, interviews and more!
Essential EFL from Sky Sports is your one-stop shop for all the best coverage of the Championship, League One and League Two.
Championship Predictions sees Simeon Gholam and David Prutton look ahead to the weekend's action and forecast who they think will win, lose or draw in every game.
There is also EFL Interviews, where you can hear from the players making the headlines on the field, plus we regularly get the thoughts and opinions of our EFL pundits and experts.
👉 Give the Sky Sports Essential EFL podcast a follow
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