I'm invested in seeing Ipswich go up. My late father grew up watching them, and it's great to see ex-United coach Kieran McKenna doing so well with limited resources. Ipswich seem to have run out of steam, in part due to injuries, but Leicester and Leeds have been obligingly dropping just as many points. Those two sides have much stronger squads, so I fear they are still favourites to get over the line and claim the automatic promotion spots...

Ipswich have Hull and Coventry (still fighting for play-offs) and Huddersfield (fighting to stay up).

Leicester have West Brom (need points to be certain of P/o), Saints (could be going for autos), Preston (may be in the p/o fight still) and Blackburn.

Leeds have Middlesbrough (midtable), QPR (survival fight) and Southampton.

Saints have Preston, Cardiff (midtable), Leicester, Stoke (fight for survival), and Leeds.

Saints win tonight and you can't rule them out at all. Not easy for any of them really.

I wonder if any of them have any chance of staying up next season whoever goes up. Burnley ran away with the title last season and have struggled massively in the PL. Will Leicester have points deducted next season?

Would expect Southampton, Leicester and Leeds to match the likes of Palace and Bournemouth. Not sure on Ipswich.

Points deductions hopefully won't be the deciding factor.

Ipswich have Hull and Coventry (still fighting for play-offs) and Huddersfield (fighting to stay up).

----------------------------------------------

What could work in Ipswich's favour is that they aren't playing for over a week, while some of their opponents are playing twice before then. Helps in terms of tiredness and possibly injuries, and it's possible that Hull / Coventry are no longer in a position to make the playoffs by the time they meet Ipswich.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 7 minutes ago
I wonder if any of them have any chance of staying up next season whoever goes up. Burnley ran away with the title last season and have struggled massively in the PL. Will Leicester have points deducted next season?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

If Ipswich get promoted, they'll be favourites to go down again - but it's often hard to predict these things. I don't think many people at the start of the season would have thought Luton would be the promoted side with the best chance of staying up at this stage of the season. I gather that Ipswich have quite a progressive ownership, with hopefully a sustainable plan that would harness one season in the PL to invest in the longer term foundations of the club.

Tbh I was surprised at the start of the season when I saw Ipswich among the favourites. They seem to know what they are doing.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 1 hour, 27 minutes ago
I wonder if any of them have any chance of staying up next season whoever goes up. Burnley ran away with the title last season and have struggled massively in the PL. Will Leicester have points deducted next season?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think the points deduction thing won't last long. There are so many obvious problems with it. For example if you're relegated because of a deduction, and appeal, and win the appeal the next season wtf happens?

What does strike me is how often teams who rely heavily on loan players struggle when they come up. They wind up having to get half a squad with limited funds and no time.

Luckily Ipswich haven't had to rely on Williams much because he's been too busy off his t-ts on balloons.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 23 minutes ago
Luckily Ipswich haven't had to rely on Williams much because he's been too busy off his t-ts on balloons.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

This! In his loan spell, I thought Williams looked too good for a struggling PL team like Norwich but not good enough for United. Now he doesn't look great in the Championship.

Good write up DJ.

Leicester are in full on bottle mode I think they might end up in the playoffs.

Ipswich I think will get the job done alongside Leeds. It’s too much for Southampton to do and they Leeds and Leicester away, I reckon 1 point from those 2 which won’t be enough.

Barca and Atletico to both finish the job tonight. Bayern and City to finish the job tomorrow.

Dortmund and PSG into the CL Semis

comment by The Mainoo Man (U23147)
posted 46 minutes ago
Dortmund and PSG into the CL Semis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Great start to my predictions

PSG should beat Dortmund in the semis

Southampton looked very good last night by all accounts.
I wouldn't rule them out of winning their last 4 and taking an automatic spot.

Portsmouth were promoted so congratulations to them. Derby look to be all but up with +5 Gd and 6 points lead with 2 to go. 1 point does it.

extra incentive to the southampton fans now. they have a lot to do still.

theres a lot of nervous clubs at the bottom of the championship too.

Derby are only 3 clear.
Peterborough are back in it, 6 points behind Derby and 3 off Bolton but a game in hand on both.
That shocking defeat to Carlisle will live long on their minds.

The "Kings of sustainability" haven't been able to sustain their league place. Forest Green relegated from league 2 years after winning league 2. Duncan Ferguson and Troy Deeney among the many who have managed them since that title.