EFL pundit Ryan Dilks has picked his teams to be relegated from the Championship this season.
The Championship season is about to enter its final run-in, with just eight games left for the bulk of teams in the second tier.
And a lot can change with 24 points left to play for.
Sheffield Wednesday currently sit in 23rd place of the Championship table on 38 points and Sunderland in the mid-table position are only 10 points ahead.
So given recent form, the Owls could yet finish very comfortably in the league this season, with the bottom half of the table in particular looking very tight.
Who is in the Championship relegation picture
For much of the season, it was Rotherham United, Sheffield Wednesday, QPR, and Huddersfield Town who were by far the four lowest teams in the Championship.
But Sheffield Wednesday and QPR in particular have found form in recent weeks, dragging a horde of teams into the dog fight in the process.
Now, the relegation picture is wide open; even Sunderland up in 12th won’t be banking on staying up just yet, and the likes of Birmingham City in 21st on 39 points are right in it now, along with Stoke City and Plymouth, both on 41 points and in 19th and 18th respectively, followed by Blackburn Rovers in 17th on 42 points and Millwall in 16th on 43 points.
Then there’s Swansea City in 15th, but they’re three points ahead of Millwall, so right now there definitely seems to be a pool of eight teams currently trying to avoid going down with Rotherham United who are 19 points adrift, currently joined by Danny Rohl‘s Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town in the drop zone.
Championship bottom three won’t change, says Ryan Dilks
Giving his Championship relegation prediction on the Second Tier Podcast, EFL pundit Dilks said this:
“I don’t think it’ll be Millwall. I think they’ve got the momentum now to get away from the bottom three. Blackburn are winless in nine but also hard to beat under John Eustace and you’d have thought they would get a couple of wins on the board eventually, to keep them safe. I believe Birmingham should be alright now that they’ve pressed the button on getting Gary Rowett in. Plymouth have been really poor recently, but I will blindly put faith in them being able to make the right decision on the manager, and still having the talent in the squad to keep them safe.
“And then, I don’t have a huge amount of confidence in Stoke, but they seem to have a habit of living dangerously and being alright in the end, and I think that’s the most likely scenario. So that leaves Wednesday, QPR, and Huddersfield. Look, I’ve said them pretty much all season, so I’m going to stick with Wednesday and QPR.
“Both have been in pretty good form recently, but it won’t take much for that to change with these two, because we’ve seen that happen on plenty of occasions this season.”
Sheffield Wednesday have the momentum right now
Despite back-to-back defeats, and a heavy 6-0 loss at Ipswich Town going into the break, Sheffield Wednesday have momentum right now.
The wind may have been taken out of their sails somewhat after two defeats, but they’ve still won five of their last eight in the Championship, keeping clean sheets in four of those.
They’ve looked extremely organised and determined in recent weeks and what’s more is that the Owls have a more favourable run-in than most of the teams around them, particularly QPR.
Sheffield Wednesday remaining Championship fixtures
Swansea City (H)
Middlesbrough (A)
QPR (A)
Norwich City (H)
Stoke City (H)
Blackburn Rovers (A)
West Brom (H)
Sunderland (A)
Huddersfield Town remaining Championship fixtures
Coventry City (H)
Stoke City (A)
Millwall (H)
Preston North End (A)
Bristol City (A)
Swansea City (H)
Birmingham City (H)
Ipswich Town (A)
Birmingham City remaining Championship fixtures
QPR (A)
Preston North End (H)
Leicester City (A)
Cardiff City (H)
Coventry City (H)
Rotherham United (A)
Huddersfield Town (A)
Norwich City (H)
QPR remaining Championship fixtures
Birmingham City (H)
Swansea City (A)
Sheffield Wednesday (H)
Plymouth Argyle (A)
Hull City (A)
Preston North End (H)
Leeds United (H)
Coventry City (A)
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