Coventry City fans took great delight at seeing Burnley clinch the Championship title on Tuesday night because it denied one of their main play-off rivals Blackburn Rovers any points in their quest to capitalise on their game in hand.
The result means Jon Dahl Tomasson’s men remain in eighth place and a point off the Sky Blues who have a vastly better goal difference going into the last two fixtures of the campaign, with Rovers yet to face Luton Town at Ewood Park this weekend before what could be a last day six-pointer at Millwall – one of eight clubs battling it out for the last two available spots in the top six.
The Rovers boss said after Tuesday night’s disappointing 1-0 home defeat: “It has been a successful season so far. To play for play-offs at this stage, they have done brilliantly. We want to win against Luton and I think we will if we keep playing like that. We are disappointed and then we’ll look at Luton. If we have this mindset, we are able to bounce back with a good performance.”
Having backed the Clarets for one night only, Sky Blues supporters will today switch allegiance and suddenly become Sheffield United fans for the day, backing the Blades to do the business over ninth placed West Bromwich Albion. Victory for Paul Heckingbottom’s side will clinch automatic promotion back to the Premier League for the South Yorkshire club and keep the Baggies a big three points away from Coventry ahead of their last two games – Norwich City at the Hawthorns before a difficult trip to late entrants to the play-off race, Swansea.
Mark Robins’ men have put themselves in pole position after Saturday’s 2-1 win over Reading, a result that lifted them up to fifth, albeit only a point better off than three of their rivals – Sunderland, Millwall and Blackburn – three better than West Brom and Preston, and four better than Norwich and Swansea.
It makes Saturday’s sell-out clash with local rivals Birmingham City one of the biggest games for the Sky Blues for many years with the opportunity of a top six finish tantalisingly close. Performing in front of a near 30,000 crowd, a win for Coventry would take them agonisingly close to securing a final spot ahead of their last day trip to Middlesbrough. And, depending on results elsewhere, they may not even need to win at the Riverside.
So, can City do it? Using our specially designed widget below, you can predict the outcome of all the remaining fixtures involving teams battling for the last couple of play-off places, and see where they end up. Share your final table in the comments section or on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Leave a Reply