Play-Off Battle.

The season is hotting up with just eight games to go before the curtains come down onto the 2018/19 season. This season is 82% complete, with 453 fixtures out of 552 being played.

The top six places are all not set in stone - Norwich are stood tall and strong at the top with 78 points, having been in control of their entire season but a little wobble could be costly for them as Sheffield United are just four points behind. Leeds seem to have fallen apart (again) and has dropped to third place, although they are just a point behind second place. West Brom are pretty safe in fourth place, having 70 points and they are twelve points ahead of fifth placed Middlesbrough but as every Championship fan knows - nothing is guaranteed.

And now this is where it hots up. There are seven teams in the running to clinch a playoff spot, a top six spot.

However, we will take a deeper look and try to predict using statistics where each team will end up (disclaimer, in case you miraculously did not know, statistics does not take into consideration key players being injured or managers being sacked etc)

-Recent form is their last eight fixtures

-__ PPG means the average number of points they get from home/away games. For instance, Derby are to play Rotherham at home (0.53 PPG) meaning Rotherham gets 0.53 points on average when playing away.

Current 5th place - Middlesbrough - 58 points

Middlesbrough's recent form has been moderately shit, losing their last three games and failing to win in their last four fixtures (DLWWDLLL) and Tony Pulis' job is in jeopardy, with the Boro board unimpressed in Pulis' team selection as the club is desperate to get back into the big league. Key players such as Lewis Wing, Mo Besic, Paddy McNair and George Saville are all doubts therefore Middlesbrough could see their horsepower fading and they are facing the possibility of not clinching a playoff position even though they have spent all season in a playoff place. They have nine games remaining, four away and five at home - this is not the best circumstance for them as they gain more points away than home on average, having won an average of 1.63 points per away game in comparison to 1.50 points at home. However, their record overall is decent, having won 41% of their games and losing just 24%. In their last eight games, they have scored an average of 0.75 goals, and have conceded an average of 1.13 goals per game - their defence has been pretty leaky lately.

Their remaining games are:

-Norwich at home (1.95 PPG)

-Bristol at home (1.65 PPG)

-Swansea away (1.65 PPG)

-Bolton away (0.84 PPG)

-Hull at home (1.00 PPG)

-Stoke at home (0.95 PPG)

-Nottingham Forest away (1.79 PPG)

-Reading at home (0.79 PPG)

-Rotherham away (1.37PPG)

Current 6th place - Aston Villa - 57 points

Aston Villa has hit form at the perfect point of the season, with their recent results being DLLDWWWW and winning their last four fixtures has proven to be a statement to the rest of the league, that they are to be taken as serious contenders for the playoff spots. Tommy Elphick, James Chester and Axel Tuanzebe are all key players out injured, although Tuanzebe is expected back anytime soon - this could have an implication on the defensive record of Aston Villa, which stands at an average of 1.00 goals conceded per game. Alan Hutton is also out injured, which could be a huge loss for the side and although not a key player, Henri Lansbury is out injured too but his return is expected soon, a welcome return to allow the management team to have a selection to strengthen the depth of the squad. Aston Villa are also in pretty good goalscoring form, scoring an average of 1.88 goals per game, and this is brought up by their recent thrashings of Derby (4-0) and Middlesbrough (3-0) and all their forwards are fit. They have 8 games remaining of their season, four at home and four away games which is reasonably okay for them, as they have picked up an average of 1.68 points each home game, this is better than their record on the road, picking up an average of 1.32 points each away game - they would have liked more home games but to have an equal amount of both home and away games, they cannot complain. They have won 37% of their games and lost 24% - this is a record that definitely needs to improve if they are to make the playoffs.

Their remaining games are:

-Blackburn at home (0.89 PPG)

-Sheffield Wednesday away (1.68 PPG)

-Rotherham away (1.37 PPG)

-Bristol City at home (1.65 PPG)

-Bolton away (0.84 PPG)

-Millwall at home (0.68 PPG)

-Leeds away (2.05 PPG)

-Norwich at home (1.95 PPG)

Current 7th place - Preston - 57 points

Preston has been in scorching hot form, remaining unbeaten for 12 fixtures, and their last eight record is WWDWDWWW, proving themselves to be a powerful contender for a playoff spot, although it is believed that they will fall away sooner or later as good forms don't last forever! Key players Callum Robinson and Louis Moult have been injured recently, and they are working on their fitness so a return is imminent for them both, bolstering the attacking options for Preston and this could be a make or break decision for the management team as they have been in excellent form that only the other teams could dream of, and bringing these players back in might disturb the routine wins. Otherwise, other key players Billy Bodin and Josh Harrop are not expected back at all this season with their long term ACL injuries, and this might have a huge implication on their season as it takes away the depth of the squad. However, Ben Davies and Alan Browne has been in blisteringly brilliant form this season, and they might be able to carry the team to a top six finish. They have scored an average of 1.63 goals per game, and conceded only 0.63 goals per game, which is remarkable for any team in this division, and they have 8 games remaining, four at home and four on the road, which is moderately alright for them as they have picked up an average of 1.58 points at home and 1.42 points away from home, so they should be manageable - they have also won 39% of their games, and lost 29%; a win rate of over the 40% margin is ideal for a playoff contender but Preston's form might see them pick up further wins and stretch their unbeaten run to the end of the season.

Their remaining games are:

-Reading away (1.16 PPG)

-Sheffield United at home (1.68 PPG)

-Leeds at home (1.79 PPG)

-West Brom away (1.63 PPG)

-Ipswich at home (0.43 PPG)

-Wigan away (1.74 PPG)

-Sheffield Wednesday at home (1.21 PPG)

-Brentford away (1.89 PPG)

Current 8th place - Derby - 56 points

Derby has been in quite disappointing form, managing to piece together a single league win a month for two months in a row, and if they fail to win their next fixture, it will be stretched to three consecutive months - however, they have not lost in their last three games, with their recent form being WDLLLWDD. Draws will not get them into the playoff positions though. But they have welcome returns of critical playmaker Mason Mount and winger Tom Lawrence as well as a couple of other players who has been out injured such as Craig Bryson, Scott Carson and Mason Bennett, giving added strength to the squad depth and possibly prompting a strong run into the end of the season to try and grab a top six spot. They have nine games remaining, four at home and five away games which is not very ideal as they have picked up an average of 1.79 points at home across the season, compared to an average of 1.22 points away from home - preferably they would like to have more home games to stand a better chance of picking up points. Statistically, it does not look as good in contrast to the other playoff contenders as Derby have won 41% of their games, and lost 30%; they should have lost a lot less but they have been riding their luck and remained in contention somehow. Recently, they also have an average of 0.75 goals scored and 1.13 goals conceded too, on par with Middlesbrough but with the return of key players, this statistic will be a distant memory.

Their remaining games are:

-Rotherham at home (0.53 PPG)

-Brentford away (1.89 PPG)

-Blackburn away (1.58 PPG)

-Bolton at home (0.68 PPG)

-Birmingham away (1.37 PPG)

-QPR at home (0.89 PPG)

-Bristol City away (1.42 PPG)

-Swansea away (1.65 PPG)

-West Brom at home (1.89 PPG)

Current 9th place - Bristol City - 55 points

Bristol City started off the season strongly, and carried that strong form throughout the season before starting to falter in the turn of the year, and they are continuing to falter, having failed to win their last five fixtures, their form being WWWLLDLD - this will prove to be a difficult rut to get out of. However, a strength for the side is that they have ten fixtures remaining as a result of their impeccable run in the FA Cup, but fatigue may take its toll on the team as they are not used to it. Of those remaining ten games, four are at home and six are on the road, proving to be ideal for the side as they pick up an average of 1.42 points at home and 1.65 points away; they are better on the road, and they will be looking to play that to their strengths. They have won 42% of their games, and lost 31%, and they will need to start converting losses into wins as the ideal loss margin for a playoff team is below 25% - but they should see a turn of their fortunes if they improve their defensive record as they have scored an average of 1.38 goals per game, and conceded an average of 1.25 per games. Bristol City has got luck on their side in terms of minimal injuries, as they have pretty much a full squad with the exception of Callum O'Dowda, who seemingly got injured while on international duty and will be checked on. Therefore, there is no excuse in whether they can maintain a playoff push.

Their remaining games are:

-Sheffield United away (2.21 PPG)

-Middlesbrough away (1.50 PPG)

-Wigan at home (0.32 PPG)

-West Brom at home (1.89 PPG)

-Aston Villa away (1.68 PPG)

-Reading at home (0.79 PPG)

-Sheffield Wednesday away (1.68 PPG)

-Derby at home (1.22 PPG)

-Millwall away (1.33 PPG)

-Hull away (1.68 PPG)

Current 10th place - Sheffield Wednesday - 55 points

Sheffield Wednesday seem to have hit their peak of the season after appointing experienced Steve Bruce as their manager, and have not lost in 11 games since his appointment, their record standing at DDWWDDWW and having only conceded an average of 0.75 per game, they are on track to being solid playoff contenders. They have also scored an average of 1.75 goals per game, promising a strong run into their season finale, although star player Steven Fletcher is out injured. Lucas Joao and Gary Hooper are set to return from injury but their return seem unsure as of this moment in time, but their imminent returns will be welcome news to the club, as well as Fernando Forestieri being back in contention too. Defensively, they have no injury concerns so this might play to their strengths too They have eight games remaining, four at home and four away, and they have picked up an average of 1.68 points at home, with Hillsborough being widely known as a tough place to go to, and they have picked up an average of 1.21 points away from home, proving there is space for improvement for the side. They will also hope their red hot form will not falter, although they have won just 37% of their fixtures, and lost 29% - they should improve on this statistic.

Their remaining games are:

-Stoke away (1.53 PPG)

-Aston Villa at home (1.32 PPG)

-Nottingham Forest at home (1.05 PPG)

-Leeds away (2.05 PPG)

-Norwich away (2.16 PPG)

-Bristol City at home (1.65 PPG)

-Preston away (1.58 PPG)

-QPR at home (0.89 PPG)

Current 11th place - Nottingham Forest - 54 points

Nottingham Forest has been in reasonably alright form, not winning their last two and their record is WDDWLWLD which is up and down, as expected for a club of their ability. They have won 34%, the lowest out of all the play off contenders, but they have also lost only 26% of their games, one of the lowest out of the other contenders, proving they have drawn a staggering 40% of their fixtures; a feat that a playoff contender should not carry. They have conceded an average of 1.13 goals per game, and scored an average of 1.25 goals per game, which is moderately okay, and they have eight games remaining, four away and four at home - they should make the most of their home fixtures as they pick up most of their points there as they have picked up an average of 1.79 points at home which is a huge difference compared to their average of picking up 1.05 points per game away from home. In terms of injury concerns, they should have Lewis Grabban, their top scorer, back from injury after missing five consecutive fixtures, and Matty Cash is fit to return, but Michael Dawson, Sam Byram and Michael Hefele are all still out injured. At the end of the day, I could not care about this team any less, so let's just move on.

Their remaining games are:

-Swansea at home (1.00 PPG)

-Rotherham away (1.37 PPG)

-Sheffield Wednesday away (1.68 PPG)

-Blackburn at home (0.89 PPG)

-Sheffield United away (2.21 PPG)

-Middlesbrough at home (1.63 PPG)

-QPR away (1.42 PPG)

-Bolton at home (0.68 PPG)

Following statistics, this should be the final results if their current form continues into their final games of the season;

-Middlesbrough's results should look like this:

Norwich (H) - LOSS

Bristol City (H) - DRAW/LOSS

Swansea (A) - DRAW/LOSS

Bolton (A) - WIN

Hull (H) - WIN

Stoke (H) - WIN

Nottingham Forest (A) - LOSS

Reading (H) - WIN

Rotherham (A) - WIN

Middlesbrough should at least pick up 15 points from their final nine if they continue in their rotten form and finish the season with at least 73 points.

-Aston Villa's results should look like this:

Blackburn (H) - WIN

Sheffield Wednesday (A) - LOSS

Rotherham (A) - WIN

Bristol City (H) - DRAW

Bolton (A) - WIN

Millwall (H) - WIN

Leeds (A) - LOSS

Norwich (H) - LOSS

Aston Villa should at least pick up 14 points from their remaining eight games if they continue in their strong form and finish the season with at least 71 points.

-Preston's results should look like this:

Reading (A) - WIN

Sheffield United (H) - DRAW/LOSS

Leeds (H) - LOSS

West Brom (A) - DRAW/LOSS

Ipswich (H) - WIN

Wigan (A) - LOSS

Sheffield Wednesday (H) - WIN

Brentford (A) - LOSS

Preston should at least pick up 9 points from their last eight games as they have an extremely tough run coming up, and if they continue their extremely strong form, they should end the season with at least 66 points.

-Derby's results should look like this:

Rotherham (H) - WIN

Brentford (A) - LOSS

Blackburn (A) - LOSS

Bolton (H) - WIN

Birmingham (A) - WIN

QPR (H) - WIN

Bristol City (A) - LOSS

Swansea (A) - LOSS

West Brom (H) - DRAW/LOSS

Derby should at least pick up 12 points from their last nine games, and if they continue their moderately bad form, they should end the season with at least 68 points.

-Bristol City's results should look like this:

Sheffield United (A) - LOSS

Middlesbrough (A) - WIN

Wigan (H) - WIN

West Brom (H) - LOSS

Aston Villa (A) - DRAW

Reading (H) - WIN

Sheffield Wednesday (A) - LOSS

Derby (H) - WIN

Millwall (A) - WIN

Hull (A) - DRAW/LOSS

Bristol City should at least pick up 15 points from their final 10 games, and if they continue their reasonably strong form, they should end the season with at least 70 points

-Sheffield Wednesday's results should look like this:

Stoke (A) - LOSS

Aston Villa (H) - WIN

Nottingham Forest (H) - WIN

Leeds (A) - LOSS

Norwich (A) - LOSS

Bristol City (H) - DRAW

Preston (A) - LOSS

QPR (H) - WIN

Sheffield Wednesday should at least pick up 9 more points from their last eight of the season, and if they continue their unbeatable form, they should end the season with at least 64 points

-Nottingham Forest's results should look like this:

Swansea (H) - WIN

Rotherham (A) - LOSS

Sheffield Wednesday (A) - LOSS

Blackburn (H) - WIN

Sheffield United (A) - LOSS

Middlesbrough (H) - WIN

QPR (A) - LOSS

Bolton (H) - WIN

Nottingham Forest should at least pick up 12 more points from their last eight games remaining of their season, and if they continue their pretty strong form, they should end the season with at least 66 points.

Some interesting facts to bear in mind of the playoff contenders as well as the teams they are up against;

-73% of Brentford's points has been won at home, proving their home ground to be a fortress for them.

-85% of Wigan's points has been won at home, again proving that their home ground is a fortress for them, and might prove difficult for travelling teams to pick up points.

-Aston Villa has conceded at least one goal in 83% of their home fixtures, which may be an implication for them and gives visiting teams confidence to gain points there.

-Bolton has won only 18% of their games, and therefore should be a promising stat for teams looking to pick up crucial points.

-34% of goals conceded by Preston has come after the 75th minute, suggesting that the team might not have the energy to carry out a strong performance, and may be a weakness to the side.

-Sheffield Wednesday are undefeated in their last 10 home games and their last home loss was to Derby (1-2 loss) back in November, which might or may not instil confidence in the home side, because the pressure to keep up the unbeaten run will mount.

-Wigan has failed to win their last 17 away games, with their last away win coming in August 2018, beating Stoke 3-0 therefore, again, promising a fairly easy three points for the teams facing Wigan at home. However, the side will be looking to end the run and may be a threat.

-Nottingham Forest has failed to win their last 10 away fixtures, which will not give them a lot of confidence (good).

-West Brom wins 50% of their games, promising to be a difficult test for those who will come up against them, but again, they still drop points in the other 50% of their fixtures, so this should give players further confidence to be in that margin rather than the losing margin.

-Two teams in the playoff race has been on a long undefeated run; Preston (unbeaten in 12) and Sheffield Wednesday (unbeaten in 11) and this will be, guaranteed, giving both teams and their fans confidence but not all good runs will be forever.

-Sheffield United has not conceded a goal since the 8th of February, a run stretching to almost two months, and teams will need to look to break down the Blades' powerful defence if they are to even think of three points. They have also not conceded at home since Harry Wilson's goal in their 3-1 win over Derby on Boxing Day.

The final table, according to the statistics used in this article, would look like this:

5 - Middlesbrough (73 points)

6 - Aston Villa (71 points)

7 - Bristol City (70 points)

8 - Derby (68 points)

9 - Preston (66 points)

10 - Nottingham Forest (66 points)

11 - Sheffield Wednesday (64 points)

But at the end of the day, we know just how unpredictable the Championship can be, and hopefully, the statistics are all wrong.

This is how I personally believe the Championship table will look at the end due to injury returns, runs of form throughout the season, their squad strength and managerial expertise -

5 - Aston Villa

6 - Derby

7 - Middlesbrough

8 - Preston

9 - Sheffield Wednesday

10 - Preston

11 - Nottingham Forest

Derby have got aspirations to finish in the top six, and they will - believe in the team and in Frank Lampard. Come on you Rams!