Cardiff not only had the weekend off, but they’ve now got a five point lead with two games in hand after Watford lost at home for the first time since New Year’s Day. That sounds exactly like what’s happened to Cardiff over the past few seasons, so it must be weird being on the other end of the story.
Leicester also lost at home – they’re now seven points behind off the second automatic promotion spot and thirteen points behind Cardiff. One win in the last seven games is nowhere near good enough at this stage in the season: given the rather capricious nature of the board of directors at the King Power Stadium, you have to wonder if Nigel Pearson is under pressure. If Leicester finish fourth this season, I think Pearson is done for.
Interestingly, before Saturday, Leicester and Watford’s most recent home defeats had been by the same team. I’ve mentioned this before, but it could be keeping an eye on Charlton over the next few months – with a stronger defence, the Addicks could be a genuine promotion contender next season.
Billy Davies’ return to Nottingham Forest appears to have worked: the 3-1 win over Wolves means that after five straight wins, Forest are in the playoff spots for the first time this season. The result also had a significant impact at the bottom of the table: at the bottom there are four points between Wolves and Ipswich, but at the moment it looks like any three from the bottom four for the drop.
Unusually, not only do we have a Monday night game, but it’s also relevant to the promotion battle. Hull could go second if they win at Turf Moor tonight (Sky Sports 1, 7:45pm). The only problem with that is that Burnley have won five of their last six meetings in Lancashire without Hull even scoring a goal and tonight’s visitors have only won one of their last nine league games against the Clarets.
Neither team is in good form at the moment: Hull’s run of three straight away defeats has exposed an unexpected fragility in their defence, whilst Burnley haven’t won at home since the middle of last month – the single goal victory over Crystal Palace was only their second home win since Boxing Day.
There are three catch up games tomorrow and – as luck would have it – all three are relevant to the top and bottom of the table. The outstanding game is in Cardiff, where the leaders entertain Leicester, but Brighton can leapfrog Forest if they win at Barnsley (who were – unsurprisingly – crushed by Manchester City at the weekend) and if Peterborough can win at Leeds they’ll be out of the bottom three.
I’ll be back tomorrow with previews for those three games.
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