However, at times during the game at the City Ground it was difficult to tell which team had ten men – Forest were shut out at home for the fourth time this season as the Swans demonstrated why they had the second best defence in the division last season. Only QPR conceded fewer goals.

The second leg looks as if it could be just as tight. Swansea have won two of the last three league games against Forest, with the visitors having only won once since 2005/2006: a single goal from David McGoldrick was enough to earn Nottingham Forest all three points in December 2009.

Scoring was a problem for Forest last week and it could well be the same issue this evening: Swansea kept fourteen home clean sheets in the league this season  and only two teams (Forest and Portsmouth) scored more than one goal at the Liberty Stadium. Forest kept six clean sheets on the road in 2010/11 but only managed two in the last ten games and lost 3-2 to Swansea in March.

The other tie is also balanced on a knife edge. It was absolutely impossible to separate Reading and Cardiff City on Friday evening and tomorrow’s game (Sky Sports 1, 7:45pm) might be the one that has to go to extra time. The Bluebirds have only beaten the visitors three times in their last ten meetings with three of the last six games being drawn – and Reading were this year’s away draw specialists in the Championship, are currently on an eight game unbeaten streak away from the Madejski and haven’t conceded a four of their last five road trips.

Despite holding home advantage in the second leg, Cardiff’s recent home form hasn’t been that good. The 3-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough was surrounded by controversy about the behaviour of some of the players before and after the game and the hosts have only won two of their last six games at the Cardiff City stadium. Although this is a tremendously important game for both sides, the pressure is on Cardiff to perform – another failure to win promotion to the Premier League after their recent near misses could have a profoundly negative impact on the side from the Welsh capital next season. The possible loss of home town hero Craig Bellamy may be crucial: he limped off after 17 minutes in the first game.

With the playoffs underway and battle to stay Premier League reaching a climax next weekend, West Ham’s return to the Championship had looked inevitable from the start of the season. The Hammers last period in the Championship lasted two seasons and they reached the playoff final in consecutive seasons, losing to Crystal Palace in 2004 and beating Preston in 2005. It’s too early to say how they’ll do next season, but it might be the final chance for fans of Championship teams to visit The Boleyn Ground: it’s also highly likely that West Ham will feature in a lot of next season’s televised games – including a few that will have early kick offs following police advice.

UPDATE: Reading will play Swansea in the final at Wembley on Monday May 30th.

There’s only one thing that your club has to do if you want to be promoted via the Championship play offs.

Don’t finish fourth.

The stark situation facing Cardiff City is that the last time a club that finished fourth in the second tier of English football was promoted via the play offs was twelve seasons ago. In May 1998, Charlton beat Sunderland on penalties after extra time in one of the most remarkable games ever seen at the old Wembley Stadium. Since then, Barnsley, Preston, West Ham, WBA, Bristol City and Cardiff themselves have finished fourth, reached the playoff final and lost.

Some other interesting trends are that the last three playoff final winners were making their first appearance in the Championship playoffs and two of them (Burnley and Blackpool) had been absent from the top tier for some time. Both trends are encouraging for Swansea – who last played in the old first division almost 30 years ago – and the latter is good news for Cardiff: it’s been almost 50 years since they were relegated to the old second division.

Reading can take heart from the fact that if they reach the final they’re far more likely to win promotion: fifth placed teams have provided half of the finalists in the last decade, with Burnley (2008/9), Wolves (2002/3) and Birmingham City (2001/2) progressing to the Premier League. It’s a similar story with sixth placed clubs – three of the last four clubs that qualified for the final won it - and even better news for Forest and Reading is that since 2000/01 the clubs finish fifth and six have won more finals since the team finishing third.

It’s easy for fans of the other Championship to look at the playoffs and either wonder about what might have been or could be next season, but for the fans of the teams that have reached the post season it’s torture. In some respects it may be better to be overwhelmed in the first round: having had recent experience of the highs and lows of the playoffs, the worst thing that can happen is an unexpected away win, a home win that only materialises in extra time and then having your hopes crushed at Wembley.

Rather than dwelling on the past, let’s take a look at the first legs of the semi finals. This evening Nottingham Forest host Swansea (Sky Sports 1, 7:45pm) and it looks as if Forest could have a slim advantages. Swansea’s away form this season has declined slightly from 2009/10 and the Swans have only won two of their last ten games at the City Ground, losing 3-1 to Forest at the end of September. On the other hand, Billy Davies’ side have only lost twice at home in the Championship this season: the key statistic in this game might be that Swansea have conceded a goal in 16 of their 23 away games this season. Although we’re probably not likely to see a goal fest at the City Ground there a couple of unlikely scorelines: 0-0 and a repeat of the game in the old second division in September 1952, which Forest won 6-4!

Cardiff’s trip to Reading  on Friday evening (Sky Sports 1, 7:45pm) looks as if it will be a much more difficult game to predict, especially as both sides actually performed at a higher level this season than they did in 2009/10. Although the Bluebirds have only won once in their last five trips to Berkshire, Reading haven’t beaten Cardiff at the Madjewski since January 2006 and both league games were drawn this season. Once again, a goalless draw looks unlikely, especially as Shane Long andJay Bothroyd have been banging the goals in for both clubs this season.

Finally, congratulations to Southampton for being promoted to the Championship after finishing runners up to Brighton in League 1. The Saints return to second tier football after two seasons and will no doubt be hoping to ‘do a Norwich’ next season.

Following a straightforward win on Saturday afternoon at Vicarage Lane, QPR’s promotion celebrations could best be described as muted. With the verdict on their conduct in the Alejandro Faurlin case yet to be delivered that’s really the only way the Hoops could celebrate their success: wild rumours about their punishment have been doing the rounds for weeks, although it’s fair to say that Loftus Road will not be receiving a surprise visit from US Navy Seals on Friday morning.

 With QPR having ‘won’ the nPower Championship on Saturday, the drama then shifted to a warm bank holiday afternoon in South Wales – but any sense of suspense didn’t last long. This season it was Middlesbrough’s turn to shatter Cardiff’s dreams of automatic promotion: the Bluebirds conceded three goals within 25 minutes and the 3-0 defeat meant that Norwich would ensure automatic promotion at Fratton Park if they beat Portsmouth: Simeon Jackson’s fifth goal in three games did the trick and the Canaries will return to the Premier League for the first time since 2004/05.

At the other end of the table, Scunthorpe and Sheffield United were finally sent packing on Saturday afternoon. Mickey Adams’ side led Barnsley 2-1 after the hour, but former Bristol City striker Danny Haynes’second goal of the afternoon for the Tykes meant that United were down. Scunthorpe were just outclassed against Nottingham Forest, but given then the records of both Sheffield United and Scunthorpe in the third tier, it might not be too long before they return to the Championship. United haven’t played at that level since 1988/89 (they were promoted after one season) and Scunthorpe have earned themselves a reputation as a a yo-yo club between the Championship and League 1 over the last decade.  

There have been simultaneous lunch time kickoffs for the last day of the regular season in the Championship for several seasons now, but this season is the first time for a while where all of the major issues have been settled. There are still things to play for: game of the week is QPR v Leeds (Sky Sports 2, kick off 12:45pm) but the circumstances at time of writing mean that Leeds can only qualify for the play offs if they win by at least seven goals and Nottingham Forest lose at Crystal Palace. Once we know what punishment will be given to QPR, those circumstances may be a lot different and we’ll bring you an update as soon as we have the decision.

The first issue to be settled this season was not a huge surprise: Prestonwere relegated on Monday. Having been promoted in 1999/2000, the Lillywhites reached the playoffs four times and had six top ten finishes during their stay in the Championship, but only spent one week outside the bottom five places this season and had been in the relegation zone since mid November. Their recent mini revival (one defeat in seven games) was ended abruptly when they were hammered at Millwall and a home defeat by Cardiff confirmed their fate.

Five clubs won both games over the Easter holiday: Nottingham Forest, Millwall and Norwich all collected six points, but Sheffield United’s two wins - the first time they’ve won back to back games since November -probably came too late to save them. Middlesbrough finally seem to have found the type of form that had them installed as pre-season favourites: they’ve only lost one of their last ten games and perhaps 2011/12 might be the time to back them for promotion.

At the other end of the success scale, three teams other than Preston lost both their games. Ipswich and Bristol City haven’t exactly set the competition alight this season and although Derby were beaten by Burnley and Norwich, they are more or less safe.

Before we look at this weekend’s matches, it’s worth recapping what’s at stake. Norwich can still overtake QPR but Cardiff can only equal their points total – but for either of those scenarios to happen, the leaders would have to lose both their remaining games. The last play off place looks like a four way competition between Forest, Millwall, Burnley and Leeds, but anything could – and probably will – happen over the next couple of weeks.

The situation at the bottom is a lot clearer. If Doncaster beat Leicester on Saturday afternoon, Sheffield United and Scunthorpe are both down. If Doncaster don’t beat Leicester, the Blades and the Iron must win both of their remaining games to stand any chance of avoiding the drop, but as both of them have one game against teams that are chasing promotion this looks unlikely. Doncaster and Crystal Palace could still be relegated but there would have to be a couple of ridiculous scorelines to overturn the advantage they have in terms of both points and goal difference.

The weekend’s games kick off at 12:45pm (Sky Sports 2) on Saturday when Burnley travel to Leeds – neither team are out of contention for the playoffs but on current form the Clarets look the more likely to be battling for a place in the Premier League next month.

The games of the week are at the City Ground and the New Den, where all four sides need to win for different reasons. In another one of those surprising stats that have cropped up this season, Scunthorpe have won two of their their last three league visits to Nottingham Forest and won the game at Glanford Park in February so Forest need to be at their best.

Swansea haven’t won at Millwall since March 1930 and have lost nine of the twelve games there since since, so it’s probably just as well that the Swans have a guaranteed playoff place. The Lions have probably outperformed expectations this season and although they’ve been outside the top six since the autumn, there always seems to be one surprise team in contention for promotion at the end of the season and Millwall certainly fit the bill.

This week’s games finish on Monday, when Cardiff host Middlesbrough and Norwich travel to Portsmouth in another double header on Sky Sports 1 (5:00pm onwards). They may be playing for the automatic promotion place by then.

There were no big changes following last week’s games although Reading broke the 70 point barrier and the race for the last playoff spot is even more wide open after Swansea, Leeds and Nottingham Forest all dropped points after taking the lead. Swansea and Forest both lost and Leeds were lucky to escape with a point at home to Watford at Elland Road when the Hornets’ Troy Deeney scored a late own goal.

Leeds were also the subjects of one of the more intriguing off-field stories of the week: following questions asked by MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee that’s currently carrying out an enquiry on how football is being run, the FA was forced to admit that they did not know who actually owned the club – which could have some very serious implications, especially if United are promoted this season.

At the foot of the table, Sheffield United will have to win all of their remaining games to stand any chance of staying up, but with two of their last four games at Reading and Swansea that looks like a tall order. The last two spots could come down to a classic end of season relegation scrap. Since he took over at Preston, Phil Brown’s side have hit form at exactly the right time to escape the bottom three – the Lillywhites have only lost once in the last six games and don’t have a particularly difficult looking run in. On the other hand, Doncaster Roverscould be in real trouble if they don’t start winning soon – one victory in the last fifteen games and no wins at the Keepmoat Stadium since the beginning of February.

The Easter programme starts with the East Anglia derby this evening, but Good Friday sees the first of the games that are important in a wider context. In the afternoon Crystal Palace travel to Doncaster in an absolutely vital game for both teams: the Eagles’ away form has been just as bad as Doncaster’s has been at home. Palace have lost all of their away games against the current bottom six and although Donny have beaten Scunthorpe and Sheffield United this season, those wins seem a long time ago now.

 As soon as that game is over, there’s a Championship double header on Sky Sports 1. Nottingham Forest v Leicester (5:15pm) features two sides that could still qualify for the playoffs, but the outstanding game on Friday is Leeds v Reading (7:45pm). The Royals have never won at Elland Road but if Forest beat Leicester, Leeds will be out of the playoff places and will need to win this game to regain a top six spot.

On Saturday lunchtime it’s the biggest game of the season so far: QPR travel to Cardiff. There is an awful lot riding on this game: the Bluebirds could still overtake QPR but they need to win this game to stand any chance of both winning the title and ensuring automatic promotion. Unfortunately, the leaders have won five of the last ten league meetings in the Welsh capital but the last time these clubs met in such an important game, a single goal at the Millennium Stadium meant that Cardiff won the 2002/03 League 1 play off final.

The Championship team of the year was announced earlier this week and it wasn’t that much of a surprise, with eight of the 11 players coming from teams in the current top ten positions. More surprising was the absence of any players from Cardiff or Leeds and the inclusion of Grant Holt, especially as Reading’s Shane Long has scored more goals for his club this season – it’s plausible that Holt was included as he’s been on TV more often this season.

The Seagulls haven’t played in the second tier since finishing bottom in 2005/06 and will start next season at the brand new Amex Stadium in Falmer. With all three of last season’s promoted clubs currently in the top eight in the Championship, the Sussex club could have an impact next season, although ‘new stadium syndrome’ in a higher level of competition might be a factor that works against them.

Losing 4-1 at Scunthorpe isn’t a good thing to have on your CV if you’re a potential Premier League team, but QPR fans shouldn’t worry too much. After putting four past Bristol City last Saturday, Barnsley had almost the entire game to score an equaliser after Adel Taarabt’s early goal but failed to do so.

Two wins in Yorkshire and help from their major rivals took Cardiff past the 70 point mark and into second place: the Bluebirds bid to play in the top tier of English football for the first time since 1962 was aided by Swansea’s 3-0 win over Norwich on Saturday, which featured a superb free kick from Chelsea loanee Fabio Borini.

The races for second place and the last playoff spot will probably go down to the last game of the season, but the current top five looks settled and sixth place should be between Leeds and Nottingham Forest. Even so, trying to ensure a play off place isn’t really the best time for your form to go into a nose dive: Forest looked as if they were going to earn a point against Reading when Lewis McGugan converted an 88^th minute penalty kick but Luke Chambers scored an own goal in injury time. Having gone 36 regular season games without a defeat at home, Forest have now lost two of the last four games at the City Ground: Leeds have won once in their last five games and lost both of their games last week.

This weekend’s games start this evening when Forest travel to Norwich (Sky Sports 2, 7:45pm) in an important game for both teams. The Canaries haven’t lost at home in the league this year, despite three straight away wins at the beginning of January, Forest haven’t won away from home in the last seven and have only won two of the last ten league meetings at Carrow Road.

The bottom four play each other on Saturday but with Crystal Palace having a six point advantage over Scunthorpe and as good a home record as Leeds this could be the weekend where the trapdoor begins to creak open for Sheffield United, who travel to Preston - where they’ve only won once in the last ten games. Tomorrow’s meeting is only the third time Scunthorpe have visited Selhurst Park for a league game but although Palace are undefeated at home against the bottom six, the Iron have won at Preston and Sheffield United this season and seem determined to go out with a bang.

This week’s games finish on Monday night when Queen’s Park Rangers meet Derby (Sky Sports 1, 7:45pm kick off): a ten point lead with fifteen points left to play for is an enviable position to be in, but as QPR still have to face Cardiff (who can still overtake them) and Leeds (who can’t) before the end of the season, then beating the Rams is necessary to pretty much ensure promotion before the end of the season. In an eye catching statistical anomaly, QPR haven’t beaten Derby at home since September 1982 despite having played them nine times since then and as we’re entering the part of the season where anything could happen this game should be worth keeping an eye on.

If Queens Park Rangers continue at their current pace – exactly two points per game – they’ll finish on 92 points, a total that would have won four of the last Championship titles. There’s still plenty to play for though: arguably any team in the top half of the table could put together a string of results that could mean a chance of promotion.

70 points might be too much to ask for the bottom half dozen teams, who could all still find themselves staring relegation in the face at the end of this month. An average of over one point per game should be enough to guarantee safety, but it doesn’t always work like that: at the end of 2007/08, Leicester City were relegated with 52 points.

This weekend’s programme contains four games that will have an impact on the top and bottom of the table: fortunately for fans of teams in the nPower Championship, a rare alignment of the planets means that this week’s game of the week is not only the first game of the weekend but is also being broadcast live on BBC1!

Leeds v Nottingham Forest (BBC1, 12:45pm) is the first of five games this month between sides in the current top six and should be far more competitive than the Premier League game on Sky Sports. Although both league games in Yorkshire since the turn of the century have been draws, Forest haven’t won at Elland Road since April 1996: Leeds’ last home defeat was in October – when Cardiff beat them 4-0 – but Simon Grayson’s side have only won half of their home games since then.

Of games that kick off at 3:00pm, Swansea’s trip to Preston looks like it could be crucial for the long term ambitions of both teams. The Phil Brown inspired revival seems to have started at Deepdale: North End are on a two game winning streak and although they’ve yet to beat any of the top six sides at home, Swansea’s 1-0 defeats at Scunthorpe and Sheffield United earlier this season show that the South Wales side are not invincible. The problem for Preston is after tomorrow’s game they have three away games in a row before Sheffield United visit on April 16th.

It would be a major surprise if Scunthorpe got anything from their trip to Norwich City, which will be Alan Knill’s first game in charge since his appointment on Thursday. The Iron have failed to score in any of their away games against the current top six this season and Michael Collins’ consolation goal at Barnsley last month is the away only goal they’ve scored the Championship in 2011.

The last game of the weekend is QPR v Sheffield United on Monday night (Sky Sports 1, 7:45pm): although the Blades have drawn their last three visits to Loftus Road, having lost nine of their last ten away games in the Championship indicates that it would take a minor miracle for United take take any points back up the M1 with them this time.

Revisiting the theme of managerial stability, fourteen clubs have now changed their manager at least once since March 2010, so with the end of the season rapidly approaching it’s worth taking a look at which appointments have had the most impact – positive or negative.

Neil Warnock’s appointment at QPR in March 2010 is beginning to look like the best decision Queens Park Rangers’ management have made since they took over the club. It’s stating the obvious, but QPR are clearly the most improved team in the division, having finished 13th in 2009/10. However, Brendan Rogers’ work at Swansea since last July deserves an honourable mention: the Swans missed out on the playoffs by one point last season but have been in the top six since October.

At the other end of the scale, both Sheffield United and Scunthorpe have had three managers this season: managerial instability plus poor home performance is a recipe for disaster at any level and this is probably why the Blades and the Iron look certainties for relegation. Although the Championship is about as good as it gets for Scunthorpe, Sheffield United fans would have been thinking in terms of the playoffs back in August. All of the clubs in the current bottom six have made managerial changes since March 2010, with the biggest wake up call coming at Middlesbrough – although Boro seem to be out of immediate danger this season, there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Coventry, Crystal Palace and Ipswich have all made managerial changes in the last year without any apparent affect, although to be fair to Palace if they’d replicated their form at Selhurst Park on their travels they’d be challenging for the playoffs. If Ipswich don’t improve dramatically they could be the next ‘big’ team looking at relegation to League One next season.

This Saturday’s games start with an early kickoff between Sheffield United and Leeds. The last time the visitors won at Bramall Lane in the league was the season that they won the old First Division, but with both sides looking for points for different reasons in what’s bound to be a typical Yorkshire derby, anything could happen.

Without any doubt the game of the week is Swansea v Nottingham Forest. With Forest having played all their games in hand, they remain three points behind the Swans and still have to travel to Leeds and Norwich before the end of the season. Perhaps surprisingly, Forest don’t have a bad record at the Liberty Stadium, having only lost one of their five visits since Swansea moved from Vetch Field and with neither side scoring lots of goals at the moment this contest has all the hallmarks of a playoff game, especially as the visitors have yet to lose an away game against the current top six.

The other game worth keeping an eye on is at Deepdale, where the temporary management team of Steve Harrison and Andy Thorn have the weight of history against them – Coventry have never won at Preston in the league, even though the fourteen game series goes back to 1949/50. It may also be the wrong time for the Sky Blues to be playing the bottom team in the Championship: although mathematically the Lillywhites could still escape relegation, their midweek win at Scunthorpe – the first since Phil Brown took over as manager – could be the start of a confidence building run that might pay dividends next season.

It would be extremely foolish to write Brian McDermott’s side off – they’ve drawn all three of their cup games at City over the years and with the hosts having drawn with both Leicester and Notts County in earlier in the competition, a Manchester City win isn’t as straightforward as it first appears.

Returning to the Championship, having only been out of top spot twice since the season began, QPR’s apparently inevitable path to the Premier League continued after a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town. However, with almost three quarters of the season gone, it might be worth looking at what might happen between now and the end of the season.

Not surprisingly, QPR are the odds on favourites to win the Championship; although it’s still possible that Rangers can be overtaken, there have been countless opportunities for their rivals to catch them and it looks unlikely that any of them will be able to mount a serious challenge.

Much like last season, the scramble for second place and the playoff spots should be exciting for neutrals and excruciating for fans of the clubs involved. The bookies seem to think Cardiff, Swansea and Nottingham Forest have an advantage here, which makes sense until you remember that until Swansea beat Leeds last weekend they’d only won one other game against a side in current top six. From that point of view, Forest’s trip to Swansea in a couple of weeks has already been pencilled in as a potential game of the week.

It would also be unwise to rule out last season’s other beaten semi finalists – Sven Goran Eriksson’s appointment as Leicester manager might have been the shrewdest signing of the season.

It probably escaped most people’s notice during the week, but Burnley’s win at Preston last weekend means that The Lillywhites cannot win the Championship. That’s the last of Phil Brown’s worries: the bookies have completely written off the bottom three, but I’ve got a feeling that Scunthorpe’s trip to Crystal Palace in April might be crucial for both teams.

Although Forest and Leicester are doing well this season, the East Midlands also provided the biggest shock in the FA Cup for years. Derby County were in the play off places at the end of November but the Rams have since lost eleven of their sixteen league games and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Crawley. The situation has degenerated to the point where Nigel Clough is favourite to be the next manager in the Championship to lose his job, although I’m not sure if getting rid of Clough is a good idea – they’re clearly better than the teams below them, although the recent home defeat by Sheffield United indicates how bad they are right now. Derby also have a couple of tricky looking games coming up – at Middlesbrough on Tuesday and at Crystal Palace on March 19th – and if Clough can survive March then he should still be at Pride Park in August.

With no changes at either the top or the bottom of the table possible this weekend, interest this weekend moves to the battle for the last play off place between Leeds and Leicester.

Leeds may have the easier task when they host Doncaster, although Rovers’ win at Derby on Tuesday was their first away success since mid November and the last time they made the short trip to Elland Road for a league game they came away with all three points. Leicester won at Loftus Road last season, but QPR have won six of the last ten league games between these two in West London and won 2-0 at the Walker’s Stadium in September.

The only televised game this weekend is Cardiff v Ipswich (Sky Sports 2, 5:20); a win could move the Bluebirds into second place if Swansea fail to win at Scunthorpe earlier in the afternoon. There’s also a full programme on Tuesday night.

This situation happened again last weekend. The game of the week at Loftus Road finished 1-1, despite Nottingham Forest having to play with ten men for almost seventy minutes after Polish midfielder Radoslaw Majewski was deservedly sent off for a bad tackle on Adel Taraabt.

If Nottm Forest were pleased by the point at Loftus Road, they certainly looked fed up after referee Keith Stroud signalled the end of their unexpected midweek defeat at Scunthorpe on Wednesday. The Iron’s second home victory of the season – the other was a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace that could be significant at the end of the season – means that the Lincolnshire side are now only two points behind Sheffield United and poised to break out of the bottom three.

Cardiff remain second and might have been pleased with taking four points from two consecutive home games, but the Bluebirds could have pulled away from the playoff spots if they’d beaten Burnley on Tuesday. Steve Thompson’s equaliser with seven minutes to play ensured Queens Park Rangers go into the weekend programme knowing they’ll remain in pole position even if they lose at Preston North End.

The bottom of the table is pretty much as you were, although a remarkable game at the Riverside saw Middlesbrough throw away a 3-1 half time lead against Swansea with Craig Beattie scoring the winner in the fourth minute of injury time. Preston also collapsed after taking a two goal lead at Vicarage Road on Tuesday night: having taken an early lead with a Sean St. Ledger goal, the half time introduction of substitutes Matt Wichelow and Adam Thompson paid off spectacularly for the Hornets as both of them scored to earn a point for the Hertfordshire side.

The weekend’s games kick off on Friday evening when Bristol City visit Leicester in a game that was moved from Saturday in order to stop traffic in Leicester city centre from coming to a total standstill – the local rugby union club have a Saturday evening kick off. Surprisingly, Leicester have only won one of the last six meetings between these two in the Midlands and with The Robins’ away form being much better than their recent record at Ashton Gate it’ll be interesting to see how this encounter develops.

Four games on Saturday afternoon catch the eye. At the top of the table, Cardiff travel to Nottingham Forest and the last time the hosts beat the Bluebirds in the league at the City Ground was before the Brian Clough era started!

Forest are undefeated at home against the other sides in the top six, but have only beaten Swansea: the visitors have an impressive away record against the other sides in the promotion race, having only lost to QPR.

Clough’s reign at Forest was considerably more successful than his brief but well documented spell at Leeds United, who entertain Norwich at Elland Road. The Canaries have lost three of their last four league visits to Yorkshire but the sides are pretty evenly matched and this could easily be a rehearsal for a playoff semi final.

At the bottom of the table, Sheffield United have a nasty looking run end to the season as they still have five games to play against teams in the bottom six, including two away trips in the space of a week. The Blades take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in a vital game for both teams: if Palace win they’ll be five points clear the relegation zone.

The numbers seem to suggest the visitors will struggle – Palace have taken seven points from a possible nine without conceding a goal against their fellow strugglers at Selhurst Park this season. Although Mickey Adams wasn’t managing the Blades when they lost to Middlesbrough and Bristol City earlier this season, he’ll be aware that if he wants to avoid a Sheffield derby in League 1 next season these are the types of games his side need to take points from.

The last two nPower Championship teams left in the FA Cup will have to wait until next week to play their fifth round games: Burnley travel to West Ham on Monday night (ESPN, 8:00pm) but the Clarets haven’t won at Upton Park for almost 50 years and might have to wait until visiting the Olympic Stadium for their first win. At least Eddie Howe’s team know who they’re playing: Reading have got to wait until Saturday before making travel arrangements for their tie at either Everton or Chelsea next Tuesday.