In the midst of the Premier League’s first ever winter break, Championship sides are in their busiest period of the year. I wrote an article a week or so ago about our February, and the seven games that we have that could end our promotion bid or see it go into overdrive. Two games in and things are swaying towards the latter. I’ve had a look at all of the fixtures for the current top 6 to give us an idea of the possible twists and turns ahead. It’s so tight that I could have included a couple of teams outside that as well, especially Bristol City, but to keep it simple I’ll stick with 1st to 6th.
With there being so many games in such a short period of time, and many of the top 6 playing each other, we know that the table could look very different by the end of the month. We are in one of the most unpredictable leagues in the world, but over the last couple of weeks very few results have went against Fulham. We have managed to capitalise by winning four out of the past five leagues games, but the pressure is still very much on. We can’t count on the teams around us having bad days over and over again so we need to keep up the momentum.
This would probably be the worse time to have a bad run. To come so close to the automatics and then to tail off would reveal a real weak spot in our squad. Being part of the chasing pack is the easy bit! The question now is whether or not the boys can take the chance that has just handed to us on a silver platter and not let go. In the year we beat Aston Villa in the play-offs, arguably we should have went up automatically, but questionable results right at the end when it was in our own hands cost us. I don’t think anyone cares as we were given one of the greatest days in our history, but things might not end so rosily this time around.
Can we expect Leeds to continue to fall apart? Can we rely on Brentford to start dropping more points? No. We have gotten ourselves in an incredible position, but we have to follow through now. To be honest, I would rather that this opportunity had came further on in the season. Obviously I want nothing less than a win at Millwall, but if we do win tomorrow night and go into second, then we have a heck of a long time to fend off the hunters. Yet, if we don’t win then that is a huge opportunity missed which could eat away at the squad. AH, the dilemma’s of football fans, eh?
This league continues to amaze me. I can’t remember it being tighter than this ever and it’s both the best and the worst thing that could happen. The best because of the pure drama of it, and the worst because at this rate I doubt that I will have any colour left in my hair come May! This stress, though, I wouldn’t swap it for anything.
COYW
