Championship experts in total agreement about relegation ‘mini league’ verdict, one team is in trouble

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It’s getting to that point in the season where any loss could have a detrimental effect at both ends of the table.

On one hand you have the trio of Leeds United, Burnley and Sheffield United all looking at securing the Championship title whereas at the bottom of the table includes clubs such as Plymouth Argyle desperately trying to cling onto their second-tier status.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
17	Oxford UnitedOxford United	42	12	12	18	43	60	-17	48
18	Stoke CityStoke City	42	11	14	17	43	54	-11	47
19	PortsmouthPortsmouth	42	12	10	20	50	66	-16	46
20	Hull CityHull City	42	11	12	19	41	50	-9	45
21	DerbyDerby	42	11	10	21	44	54	-10	43
22	CardiffCardiff	42	9	15	18	45	66	-21	42
23	LutonLuton	42	10	10	22	37	63	-26	40
24	PlymouthPlymouth	42	9	13	20	44	82	-38	40

Form will be crucial in the final four games of the season, with every team still having something to play for but there’s one team that should be more cautious than others given their rope run of results.

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Cardiff City facing ‘desperate times’ in Championship relegation battle

Cardiff City are one of the three teams currently occupying the bottom three, but have suffered defeats to plenty of sides around them.

As recently as last week, the Bluebirds were beaten at home by Stoke City to leave them two points adrift of Derby County and both Ali Maxwell and George Elek of the Not the Top 20 podcast that it’s Cardiff who are in trouble.

Maxwell said: “For Cardiff, that mini league is not looking good. They beat Derby on January 25 but since then they have lost to Portsmouth, drew with Argyle, beat Hull but lost to Luton and lost to Stoke. That is problematic.”

His podcast partner Elek agreed, adding: “For Cardiff, it’s pretty desperate times for their survival hopes. As a fanbase you can understand why they are wondering where the next points are going to come from.

Cardiff end of season’s run-in

Out of all of the sides in the relegation dogfight, it’s fair to say that Cardiff have one of the toughest set of fixtures.

Starting with a trip to Bramall Lane to face Sheffield United, an Easter Monday home tie against Oxford United is their most likely chance of picking up three points.

Play-off chasing West Bromwich Albion then come to the Cardiff City Stadium on 26 April before an away trip to Norwich City rounds off their campaign.

It looks like it’s going to be a tall order for the Bluebirds and it’s time for them to dig deep.