The Championship finished their regular season on Saturday and congratulations to Queens Park Rangers and Norwich City who earned automatic promotions to the Premier League. QPR finished first with 88 points, 4 points ahead of the Canaries. QPR was awaiting word from the Football Association which was ruling on irregularities concerning the economic rights of player Alejandro Faurlin. There was the possibility of a points deduction which could have cost them the title. However, the FA fined QPR instead so the Rangers get to bring home the trophy.
Rangers return to the Premier for the first time since relegation following the 1996 season. For Norwich they last played in the top flight in 2005. Since then they struggled and were actually relegated into League One, one level below the Championship, after the 2009 season. They bounced back and won the League one title in 2010 and then earned a second consecutive promotion this season.
The playoffs are all set. Swansea City will face Nottingham Forest while Cardiff City takes on Reading. Playoffs schedule can be found here. Swansea managed to get third place, finishing ahead of their Welsh rivals Cardiff based on goal differential. Nottingham's win over Crystal Palace gave them the points they needed to stay ahead of Leeds United who beat QPR on Saturday.
The Championship bids farewell to the three relegated teams, Preston North End, Sheffield United and Scunthorpe United. Preston had the longest current tenure at this level of any team in the league, having been here for 11 consecutive seasons. Scunthorpe's stay was brief, just one season as they return back to League One after earning promotion from there last year. Sheffield United ends a four-season run after relegation from the Premier League and will also be returning dropping to League One. Moving up from that level will be champions Brighton & Hove Albion and runner-up Southampton. The third spot will be filled by the winner of the League One playoffs.
After the jump I will review the results of my weekend predictions.
This is the next to last weekend of the regular season for the Championship. Much can be decided. Here are my predictions:
Watford 1 Queens Park Rangers 1
Ipswich Town 2 Preston North End 2
Hull City 1 Crystal Palace 0
Leeds United 2 Burnley 2
Derby County 2 Bristol City 2
Sheffield United 1 Barnsley 1
Doncaster Rovers 1 Leicester City 1
Nottingham Forest 2 Scunthorpe United 1
Millwall 2 Swansea City 1
Coventry City 1 Reading 2
Portsmouth 1 Norwich City 1
Cardiff City 2 Middlesbrough 1
QPR clinches the title with a win. A draw will guarantee a top two finish and automatic promotion. Both Norwich and Cardiff need to win to keep their title hopes alive. Reading clinches a playoff spot with a draw or better. At the bottom of the table, Scunthorpe and Sheffield both need wins to stave off relegation while hoping for losses by Doncaster and Crystal Palace.
