The Championship 20-21

Norwich City are 10 points clear at the top, so it appears their yo-yo act of bouncing back and forth between the CL and the Prem will continue. They’ve been relegated and promoted something like five times since the turn of the century. Watford passed Brentford today for second, as did Swansea for third. The Bees are trailed by Reading and Barnsley in the final playoff spots.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...hip-roundup-watford-norwich-brentford-swansea

 

Quick update (which y'all probably have already heard or seen). Norwich City and Watford have earned the automatic promotion spots to the Premier League. Brentford, Swansea City, Bournemouth and Barnsley appear set for the playoff for the final spot. Barnsley are currently sixth, and eight points clear of seventh place Reading.

 

Barnsley is a perfectly fine option for the reasons Don mentioned but if you happen to be a CCV fan then Bournemouth are in the playoffs too.

 

The playoffs are scheduled to begin May 17h, with the Wembley final set for May 29th, however...there are reports that it and the other league finals may be changed to allow UEFA to move the Champions League final scheduled for that date from Istanbul to Wembley. Any supporters traveling to Turkey for the all English final would have to quarantine when they return due to a surge in COVID cases in Turkey. Villa Park is also under consideration for hosting the match although, since it's capacity is half that of Wembley, I can't fathom why UEFA would go there instead of Old Trafford or Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, or even London Stadium, but that's supposedly what's being offered.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...low-hosting-champions-league-final-at-wembley

 

There was a ton of drama at the bottom of the table too. Wayne Rooney's Derby barely survived a seesaw match vs Wednesday (peach of goal was scored by our former protege Patrick Roberts), but mostly stayed up from Rotherham conceding an 88th minute equalizer at Cardiff.

Wednesday finish bottom, 3 points from safety even though they started the season -6 points and had 3 managers this season (Monk, Pulis, Darren Moore) and 2 separate covid outbreaks.

After starting the season 0-0-7 and being rooted at the bottom all season, Wycombe finish a respectable 22nd, one point off safety. Amazing job by Gareth Ainsworth this season.

 

Brentford earn a return trip to Wembley with a 3-1 (3-2 aggregate) victory over Bournemouth. The Cherries’ Chris Mepham was sent off in the 28th minute, precipitating the Brentford come from behind goals. Daryl Dike and his Barnsley mates take on Swansea City in Wales at 1:30, down 1-nil after the first leg.

 

And the Bees' opponent will be....Swansea City who, despite a goal by Hatter's boy Cauley, could not overcome a 1-nil first round deficit with 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium. Dike and his other mates put themselves about pretty well after the home side's Matt Grimes put them in the driver's seat with a 38th minute tally, especially after Cauley's fine finish. But, despite several decent scoring chances, they came up short (sound familiar!). So either Brentford or Swansea will be promoted come next Sattiday at the big "W."

 

The Brentford/Bournemouth match was absolutely ridiculous - a penalty, a red card, a come from behind victory, wow.


I think the most entertaining matches in football often come out of the Championship playoffs. The stakes are so high, the teams are so desperate, it seems every season generates something special.

 

I strongly agree Micah. Some wonderfully entertaining matches, especially in the past decade.

 

Brentford coasts into the Premier League with three gifts from Swansea: an early PK, over-committing on a corner for goal #2, and a second half red-card to prevent any comeback.


A lot of Fulham fans were dreading rival Brentford getting promoted as Fulham was relegated, but since I never have to deal with seeing any Brentford fans I'll look at this as giving Fulham a better shot for promotion next season. Brentford were the better team and now Fulham doesn't have to worry about them. The only thing I am jealous about is that after seeing Brentford supporters going crazy at Wembley, I was sad that Fulham had to play last season's promotion playoff without any fans.