Cardiff’s season has taken a remarkable turn for the worse over the last seven days. First this:
And then a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa earlier this week, all of which means that the Bluebirds have been overtaken by Fulham in the race for automatic promotion.
Wolves – with an eleven point lead after beating Derby – are as good as promoted and arguably all that remains to be decided at the top is who finishes sixth. At the moment, that’s Millwall: the Lions have been unbeaten since New Year’s Day but have a very tough looking run in.
It’s more or less as you were at the bottom, although Bolton have now lost four straight and could easily find themselves switching places with Sunderland in the bottom three if that form continues. Back to the Trotters in a couple of paragraphs.
Four games to keep a look out for this weekend: four of the bottom six play each other and depending on how other results go, Wolves could win promotion this weekend.
In no particular order, Burton v Derby, Reading v Sunderland and Wolves v Birmingham (Sunday, noon, Sky Sports Football) are the highlights this weekend, but Bolton’s trip to Barnsley seems to have the most at stake for the participants. Until last week’s win over Sheffield United, the Tykes hadn’t won at Oakwell since the start of November, but they’ve not won consecutive home games since August and haven’t won consecutive games at any venue since Halloween. Bolton’s away record is just as bad: one win all season and it’s been over three years since they scored more than two goals and won in an away game in the Championship.
Head to head: since 2000 the clubs have met four times in the league at Oakwell and Barnsley have yet to win a game. Their last win at home against Bolton was in their only season in the Premier League, way back in August 1997.
Finally this week – and it wasn’t a great surprise – Mick McCarthy walked away from the Ipswich job earlier this week. He was expected to remain until the end of the season, but the fans reaction to a substitution during the win over Barnsley earlier this week was the last straw.
Update: Wolves have won promotion to the Premier League. More next week.
