Championship talking points: Ipswich look set to finish second, Leicester in deep trouble

Ipswich look set to finish second as Millwall and Middlesbrough go up again

Norwich 0-2 Ipswich

It’s a lot for Ipswich to lose now. For a long time it was about their game in hand. Now it’s all about them, thanks to an emphatic win at home to their rivals – the first time they’ve secured all three points at Carrow Road in 20 years.

It also completed the league double over Norwich, putting a complete pin in any slim hopes the Canaries had of sneaking up to the play-offs.

“This is a brilliant result for the club,” said Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna. “As soon as I got here I was told how important this game was and that it had been so long since we had beaten them.

“We finally got a win at our place earlier in the season and now we’ve backed that up by completing a double. I know how much this means to everyone connected with the club and I’m sure they will all enjoy it.”

Ipswich are now two points ahead of Millwall and three ahead of Middlesbrough, who both fell over themselves again, and they have two games in hand on both.

Challenging games are coming. Boro and Southampton – the latter of whom could be a bigger threat now in the race for second place – still to meet in their last six. But it’s hard to see them not getting over the line and joining Coventry in the Premier League next season.

Coventry miss out on their first chance for promotion

Coventry 0-0 Sheff Wed

Coventry needed three things to go their way this weekend to seal promotion and it was perhaps the least likely of the changes that fell away to make their wait a little longer.

Millwall and Middlesbrough had to drop points, they both duly did, but in between the Sky Blues couldn’t put Sheffield Wednesday away.

They are there, realistically, pretty much. They are 12 points clear of third-placed Millwall with four games remaining. Only a goal difference swing of almighty proportions will now deny them.

Frank Lampard admitted afterwards that the tension set in.

“I think there are understandable elements of the game, there’s a bit of excitement to do it and a lot of the players are probably experiencing this situation for the first time,” Lampard said.

“When to do it, the expectation to do it, and maybe there was a little bit of an effect on the game.

A point on Friday night in Blackburn, live on Sky, will be enough.

Southampton march on but Hull leave the play-offs open

Southampton 2-1 Derby | Sheff Utd 2-1 Hull | Birmingham 2-0 Wrexham

It’s no longer a case of if Southampton make the play-offs, it’s a case of whether they can march higher or not.

Saints hit back to beat Derby 2-1 on Saturday, their fifth win in a row to climb into fifth in the table. Boss Tonda Eckert described it as the ‘best of the week’ in terms of performance. Considering they beat Arsenal seven days before and then flattened Wrexham 5-1 in midweek, that’s no mean praise.

If they beat Blackburn on Tuesday night, they will move above Middlesbrough into fourth place. A prospect that seemed so unlikely even a few weeks ago that it was never mentioned as a possibility.

They are six points behind second-placed Ipswich. They have played one more match but still have to face the Tractor Boys. Keep going and you just never know.

Hull City, meanwhile, had the chance to pull the trigger in the play-offs but fell to defeat from a winning position at Sheffield United. John Lundstram’s red card cost them badly at Bramall Lane.

But it could have been worse for the Tigers. They still have four points between themselves and seventh-placed Wrexham after the Welsh side fell flat like a pancake in Birmingham on Sunday afternoon. Losing 2-0, barely laying a glove on their opponents at St Andrew’s and missing the chance to close the gap.

With four games to go, Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson is not throwing in the towel just yet.

“We’ve had a tough week this week. But we’re not down and out yet. It’s not over yet,” he said after their defeat.

“People will probably write us off, and you can understand that to a certain extent, but inside the dressing room we don’t write ourselves off and we are one win away from getting started again.”

Leicester’s fears grow as Oxford & Portsmouth win

Leicester 0-1 Swansea | Middlesbrough 0-1 Portsmouth | Oxford 2-0 Watford

How has it come to this for Leicester City?

A bleak, lifeless 1-0 defeat at home to Swansea, and they find themselves four points off safety with four games remaining. It’s hard to see where points are supposed to come from.

The team they have, the side they field, should not be in the position they are in. Even without the points deduction they would be 20th. It is almost unthinkable.

“We’re just giving away a silly goal,” boss Gary Rowett said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve said it. It’s an absolutely ridiculous goal to give away, maybe we just need to go back to basics.

“We have struggled for a long period of this season to do the basics well. The next game is going to define a lot. We have to show more fight and show a little bit more desperation.”

In the next game, Leicester visit Portsmouth, who are one of their closest challengers but found a way to win 1-0 at Middlesbrough on Saturday. The gap is four points, but it could be even wider if Pompey manage to get something at home to Ipswich on Tuesday night in their game.

And then there’s Oxford. Clever, fighting and earning deserved three points over Watford. That’s 15 points in their last eight games now, which is pretty remarkable. The only defeat in that period came to Southampton.

Only one of these three sides seems to have accepted their fate. Leicester look doomed at the moment.