Coventry City have earned promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years.
Frank Lampard’s Sky Blues surprised everyone this season by storming the Championship and sealing a top-two spot with three games left to go.
All that remains for the Midlands outfit is to seal the title, which they can do in front of their own fans tonight when they take Portsmouth.
There are still two promotion spots up for grabs, with four teams chasing the second automatic place and another three hoping to get up through the play-offs.
There are only three games left to do so in what promises to be another tightly contested and highly competitive run-in. Let’s take a look at the state of play ahead of the midweek matches.
A strong second half of the season has seen Ipswich emerge as the favourites to finish second and join Coventry in the Premier League next year.
The Tractor Boys suffered a defeat to Portsmouth last week to put a dent in their hopes and make the race a lot more interesting for the neutrals. But it’s the recent draws against Middlesbrough and Millwall that they will look back on with some regret. Had they won those, they would still be competing for first place, but face a nervy final few weeks instead.
They do, though, have a game in hand, which will prove vitally important as it comes against Southampton, who are hot on their heels in the standings.
Remaining fixtures: Charlton (A), West Brom (A), Southampton (A), QPR (H).
If Coventry were the surprise package of the season, then Millwall have been the shock revelation. Virtually nobody expected Alex Neil’s men to be competing this high up the table and fighting for the top two.
A 2-1 win over Middlesbrough at the beginning of this month gave them the belief that it was really possible, but their progress was stalled by gaining just one point from the following two games.
A 2-0 win over London rivals QPR at the weekend means they are still in contention, and all of their remaining fixtures are against clubs at the bottom end of the division, but their fate is out of their hands.
Remaining fixtures: Stoke City (A), Leicester City (A), Oxford United (H).
After a poor start to the campaign, Southampton have recovered excellently since replacing Will Still with Tonda Eckert in the dugout last November. Indeed, they have looked unstoppable of late, winning eight games on the trot in all competition.
Unbeaten since mid-January, Saints’ incredible form has lifted them into the top six in the table and reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup after beating Fulham and Arsenal along the way. Crucially, they are just one point off the automatic promotion places.
A deep cup run would usually be considered an unwanted distraction for a Championship side chasing promotion, but Saints are have so much momentum behind them that they don’t care. They are going to go all out for glory on both fronts.
Remaining fixtures: Bristol City (H), Ipswich Town (H), Preston North End (A).
If Southampton are flying right now, then Middlesbrough have all the momentum of a sinking stone. They have failed to win any of their last eight games, drawing four and losing the other three.
It was only in February that they reeled in Coventry and overtook them in the table, but a 3-1 defeat at the CBS Arena completely derailed their season. Having spent the majority of the campaign in the top two, they are now left hanging onto their play-off place for dear life.
Considering the teams behind them have failed to put a consistent run of wins together, one more victory could be enough for Boro, but you wouldn’t bet your house on it. A final day trip to Wrexham could decide their fate.