Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Championship ...

The season kicks off today with Reading hosting Derby County (and their new coach Frank Lampard) in a matchup between two teams headed..... Oh wait, who cares anymore?

Come on Fulham!

 

I'm not sure if I should revive this thread or start a new one for the current season. But since I'm lazy, I'm going to revive.

Wayne Rooney is set to give Derby County a huge boost in January and also attempt to learn some managerial skills.

https://news.sky.com/story/former-e...o-english-football-with-derby-county-11778583

Side note about my previous post above: it's interesting to see the parallels of how excited and optimistic I am at the beginning of a season. At a time when most are fretting the end of the summer, I have the opposite feeling - football season!!

 

Short turnaround to some big fixtures this week. Tuesday reeling Leeds travels to surging Brentford. A win by the hosts and Leeds will be out of the automatic promotion spot.

Forest should bag 3 points at home against Charlton. West Brom are away to Reading the same time we are at The Den on Wed.

 

UPDATE: Thank You Charlton!! Went into the match 21st, and grabs a huge 0-1 away win over Forest.

Furthermore, Brentford and Leeds only managed a 1-1 draw, so the Mighty Whites have it in their control to move into 2nd place manana.

 

Brentford scored twice late (sound familiar?) to move back ahead of us, just 2 points behind WBA. Pressure is on as Brom plays Derby (7th place) on ESPN+ at 9 pst.

 

West Brom's win over Derby means that the only way Fulham could miss out on the playoffs is if they lose their four remaining matches while Derby wins their four remaining matches, and Derby also outscores Fulham by 12 goals in those four matches. And Cardiff would have to have a better GD than Fulham. So playoffs are very nearly a mathematical lock. Sadly West Brom's win also means the automatic promotion spots are not any closer.

EDIT: I forgot Swansea still had a game to play too. Sorry Swans. They have a slightly better position than Derby assuming they hold their 2 goal lead for 10 more minutes against Birmingham.

 

Going into the final games for the Championship there are still two relegation spots, two playoff spots, and one automatic promotion spot to be decided. It is an unusual amount of uncertainty heading into the final day of the Championship season. Usually the distance between first place and last place is at least 60 points - sometimes over 70 points - this season it won't be more than 48 points. There has been a great deal of parity in the league with different teams going on hot and cold streaks throughout the season and teams at both ends of the table finding unexpected wins or losses.

At the bottom end, only Hull is relegated with Barnsley and Luton in the drop zone but not yet finished. Charlton, Birmingham City, and Middlesbrough are all still in danger (Huddersfield is mathematically not safe, but in practical terms their goal differential means they'll make it through). Thanks to their 1-0 win over Forest today, Barnsley still has a shot. They need to beat Brentford and hope that both Luton and Charlton lose. Luton needs a draw at Blackburn with a Charlton loss OR a win at Blackburn followed by a Charlton draw or a loss from Birmingham City or Middlesbrough. Given the struggles those teams have had, you would think if Luton wins they should be safe. However, none of the opposition Charlton, Birmingham, or Middlesbrough face (Leeds, Derby, and Sheffield Wednesday) have anything to play for.

Up at the other end in the playoff spots it is between Nottingham Forest, Cardiff, and Swansea. Any points for Forest or Cardiff (both at 70 points) will see them through over Swansea (67 points). Forest has enough of a goal differential that it would take a lot of goals for them to be knocked out so they should be safe even with a loss. Cardiff hosts already relegated Hull while Swansea visits Reading.

This has been the season that anything could happen in the Championship so it is sure to be an exciting and dramatic final day. All matches kick off Wednesday at 2:30pm EDT.

 

It was exciting at the other end of the table and it is a happy day for @HatterDon - Luton survived! The Hatters held on to defeat Blackburn after they were gifted two own-goals, while Charlton was crushed by Leeds. With Birmingham losing they managed to climb a full spot above the relegation zone completing a spectacular rise from being in last place earlier in July.

Despite Barnsley's stunning win against Brentford, they could not climb out of the drop zone. However, if Wigan's 12-point reduction holds then they will be safe.

Charlton joined Hull as the two teams confirmed for relegation.

 

Swansea defeated 10-man Brentford 1-0 in their first round match. The Swans didn't score until they had a man advantage, but they had the best chances even before a red-card put the Bees at a disadvantage. Jordan Ayew headed a ball off the post and missed a PK before finally delivering a fine volley into the Brentford net in the 81st minute. Now all Swansea needs to do is get their 12th away draw of the season and they will head to Wembley. Brentford still has lots of scoring power, so they are certainly not out of it yet - just like a certain Fulham team from 2018.

 

Yes, Rico Henry was given a straight red for a reckless slide tackle in the midfield.

 

Brentford will be at full strength tomorrow when they host Swansea. The red card for their left back Henry was rescinded after an appeal.

 

Brentford is going to Wembley after defeating Swansea 3-1 to win 3-2 on aggregate. It took the Bees just 15 minutes to score the two goals they needed to take the aggregate lead. A third goal (off of a cross from formerly red-carded Henry) gave them a necessary insurance goal as Swansea closed the gap at 78 minutes. Brentford held off Swansea's late attacks in a memorable last match for Griffin Park.

 

And this happened today. Didn't know Wednesday were under the gun for kind of the same thing Wigan Athletic was. This seems kind of crazy to me, but I don't profess any meaningful knowledge of the workings of soccer finance.

https://www.efl.com/news/2020/july/efl-statement-sheffield-wednesday-verdict/

 

I had seen a headline that Charlton were considering legal action in hopes that the point deduction would be applied to this season. If it were, Wednesday would go down to League 1 and Charlton would be saved from relegation. I don't think they have much of a chance, but I suppose I'd give it a shot if I were in their boots.

 

In other news today, Wigan lost their appeal and are relegated to League 1 and Charlton stay up, but wait... why do I care about the Championship now?!