This week in the Championship

Last updated : 18 April 2011 By Michael Morris

After the weekend's action there are more questions than answers in the race for the Premier League and just as intriguing is the battle to avoid the drop. Wins for Preston and Scunthorpe has heaped more pressure on Palace and Doncaster while at the top Swansea's defeat at Burnley has seen them drop to five points behind Cardiff in second.

City's victory over Portsmouth was crucial after Norwich won on Friday night and just who will stop Reading? 8 wins in a row now. City just need one point to guarantee a play off place. Three teams can mathematically catch us if we lose all out games and they win all theirs.

The next 7 days could see Cardiff promoted or could see us just about out of the hunt for automatic promotion. We could find ourselves just a point behind QPR with three games to play or we could be 16 points behind them. This really is a big week.

The chances are by 5pm next Monday there will still be alot to play for but it really is coming to an exciting climax.

Here are the fixtures for this week (up until Saturday) followed by the current league table.

Monday 18th April 2011  
npower Championship  
Queens Park Rangers v Derby County 19:45
Tuesday 19th April 2011  
npower Championship  
Burnley v Middlesbrough 19:45
Thursday 21st April 2011  
npower Championship  
Ipswich Town v Norwich City 19:45
Friday 22nd April 2011  
npower Championship  
Coventry City v Scunthorpe United 15:00
Doncaster Rovers v Crystal Palace 15:00
Nottingham Forest v Leicester City 17:15
Leeds United v Reading 19:45
Saturday 23rd April 2011  
npower Championship  
Cardiff City v Queens Park Rangers 12:45
Derby County v Burnley 15:00
Hull City v Middlesbrough 15:00
Portsmouth v Swansea City 15:00
Sheffield United v Bristol City 15:00
Watford v Barnsley 15:00
Millwall v Preston North End

17:20

 Table:

 HomeAwayOverall 
#TeamPlWDLFAWDLFAWDLFAPtsEP
1 Queens Park Rangers 41 14 5 1 41 12 9 8 4 24 15 23 13 5 65 27 82 +38
2 Cardiff City 42 12 6 3 39 20 10 3 8 33 28 22 9 11 72 48 75 +24
 
3 Norwich City 42 12 5 4 42 26 8 9 4 30 27 20 14 8 72 53 74 +19
4 Reading 42 11 7 3 39 21 8 8 5 34 26 19 15 8 73 47 72 +26
5 Swansea City 42 13 5 3 33 10 8 2 11 26 31 21 7 14 59 41 70 +18
6 Leeds United 42 10 7 4 46 34 7 7 7 32 34 17 14 11 78 68 65 +10
 
7 Nottingham Forest 42 11 8 2 35 19 5 7 9 20 26 16 15 11 55 45 63 +10
8 Hull City 42 7 7 7 18 14 9 8 4 30 28 16 15 11 48 42 63 +6
9 Millwall 42 11 6 4 35 20 5 7 9 21 24 16 13 13 56 44 61 +12
10 Leicester City 42 11 6 4 40 23 6 3 12 25 40 17 9 16 65 63 60 +2
11 Burnley 41 11 4 5 35 27 5 8 8 21 28 16 12 13 56 55 60 +1
12 Ipswich Town 42 9 3 9 30 31 8 5 8 26 23 17 8 17 56 54 59 +2
13 Watford 42 8 7 6 38 30 7 6 8 35 32 15 13 14 73 62 58 +11
14 Portsmouth 42 8 8 5 31 25 7 2 12 20 32 15 10 17 51 57 55 -6
15 Bristol City 42 9 4 8 25 26 6 5 10 28 33 15 9 18 53 59 54 -6
16 Coventry City 42 9 3 9 26 25 5 7 9 24 28 14 10 18 50 53 52 -3
17 Barnsley 42 10 5 6 29 21 3 7 11 21 40 13 12 17 50 61 51 -11
18 Middlesbrough 41 8 7 6 32 31 5 4 11 23 31 13 11 17 55 62 50 -7
19 Derby County 41 8 4 9 33 26 5 5 10 20 34 13 9 19 53 60 48 -7
20 Doncaster Rovers 42 7 7 7 25 30 4 5 12 27 45 11 12 19 52 75 45 -23
21 Crystal Palace 42 10 6 5 27 21 1 4 16 15 44 11 10 21 42 65 43 -23
 
22 Scunthorpe United 42 5 4 12 19 37 7 0 14 20 41 12 4 26 39 78 40 -39
23 Preston North End 42 6 4 11 24 34 3 8 10 26 37 9 12 21 50 71 39 -21
24 Sheffield United 42 6 4 11 22 32 3 4 14 14 37 9 8 25 36 69 35 -33