Championship weekend

Nottingham Forest could become the second confirmed relegation from the Championship this weekend if they lose at home to Burnley and Brighton earn a point against West Ham.

Ideally Brighton will not earn a point, hopefully they will suffer a home defeat as I hope will Crewe and Watford.

Coventry may struggle at Plymouth, the Pilgrims are not easy to beat on their own ground and they will want to make 100% sure they cannot get caught.

Gillingham is a poser. Do we want them to win and therefore just about save themselves? That may take the pressure off them when City go to The Priestfield Stadium on Saturday week.

First things first, Cardiff must beat Reading. It will a super weekend if we can beat Reading and Brighton lose at home to West Ham. A Crewe defeat would add icing to the cake as well. That would leave Brighton needing to win their remaining games with City losing both of theirs.

Crewe, without a win since New Years Day, are probably joint favourites with Brighton for the drop, Cardiff next.

Former City skipper Kevin Ratcliffe thinks City will stay up

"It's going to be close. There are five clubs who could finish third from bottom and Cardiff are one of them," he old the Western Mail.

"But I think Cardiff will be OK. One more win and they will be all right."

"For me, that final relegation spot is between Brighton and Crewe. But I think Brighton will scrap their way out if it. Crewe haven't won since New Year's Day and they must be wondering where that next win is going to come from.

"I know what it's like to be in that situation. I experienced it when I was manager of Shrewsbury and it's not nice. I know how they feel at Crewe. They haven't been the same side since they sold striker Dean Ashton to Norwich in January.They don't know where their goals are going to come from now."

23 April 2005

Brighton v West Ham, 15:00

Crewe v Stoke, 15:00

Derby v Gillingham, 15:00

Leeds v Ipswich, 15:00

Nottm Forest v Burnley, 15:00

Plymouth v Coventry, 15:00

Sunderland v Leicester, 15:00

Watford v Sheff Utd, 15:00

Wigan v QPR, 15:00

Wolverhampton v Rotherham, 15:00

Millwall v Preston, 13:30

Current table

1	Sunderland	43		14	4	3	42	20		12	3	7	29	19		26	7	10	71	39		85	+32
2	Wigan Athletic	43		12	4	5	39	14		12	6	4	36	19		24	10	9	75	33		82	+42
3	Ipswich Town	43		16	3	3	48	25		7	8	6	30	28		23	11	9	78	53		80	+25
4	Preston North End	43		14	6	2	43	21		7	5	9	21	31		21	11	11	64	52		74	+12
5	Derby County	42		8	7	6	33	29		12	3	6	31	23		20	10	12	64	52		70	+12
6	Reading	43		13	7	2	32	13		6	6	9	17	24		19	13	11	49	37		70	+12
7	West Ham United	43		12	5	5	35	22		8	4	9	26	29		20	9	14	61	51		69	+10
8	Sheffield United	43		9	7	6	28	22		9	5	7	27	29		18	12	13	55	51		66	+4
9	Millwall	43		11	4	6	31	21		5	7	10	17	23		16	11	16	48	44		59	+4
10	Leeds United	43		7	8	6	27	25		7	8	7	21	24		14	16	13	48	49		58	-1
11	Stoke City	43		11	2	9	22	17		5	8	8	12	19		16	10	17	34	36		58	-2
12	Queens Park Rangers	43		9	7	6	30	25		7	3	11	22	31		16	10	17	52	56		58	-4
13	Wolverhampton Wanderers	43		7	11	3	34	24		5	10	7	30	32		12	21	10	64	56		57	+8
14	Burnley	43		9	7	6	24	19		5	7	9	12	19		14	14	15	36	38		56	-2
15	Plymouth Argyle	43		9	6	6	30	22		5	3	14	21	39		14	9	20	51	61		51	-10
16	Leicester City	42		6	8	7	21	20		4	12	5	24	24		10	20	12	45	44		50	+1
17	Watford	43		5	9	7	24	23		6	6	10	26	34		11	15	17	50	57		48	-7
18	Coventry City	43		7	7	8	26	26		5	5	11	27	42		12	12	19	53	68		48	-15
19	Gillingham	43		10	5	7	21	22		2	7	12	21	39		12	12	19	42	61		48	-19
20	Cardiff City	43		8	4	9	21	19		3	10	9	23	31		11	14	18	44	50		47	-6
21	Crewe Alexandra	43		5	8	8	35	35		6	6	10	28	43		11	14	18	63	78		47	-15
22	Brighton & Hove Albion	43		7	5	9	21	26		5	5	12	15	36		12	10	21	36	62		46	-26
23	Nottingham Forest	43		6	9	6	23	26		2	7	13	15	36		8	16	19	38	62		40	-24
24	[R] Rotherham United	43		2	7	13	17	33		3	6	12	18	33		5	13	25	35	66		28	-31