A little nervous: Which sides of the championship will prevail, after a season of reluctant leaders?

With only five football games remaining from the 2014-15 Championship regular season in England, the identity of its winners and runners-up remains unknown.

This is in stark contrast to last year, which almost looked like a season-long victory parade for Leicester, who won the title with an impressive 102 points. Burnley headed home behind them, a comfortable eight points ahead of closest rivals Derby. Only the battle for sixth and last place in the play-offs sparked any cause for excitement as Brighton edged out Reading on the final day with a late winner at Nottingham Forest.

This time around, an impressive octet of teams each have a mathematical chance of landing an automatic promotion spot, from current leader Bournemouth (77 points) to eighth Ipswich (68). While the two winners are more likely to come from the current top four, who have led a four-point gap to the stuttering Derby in fifth, the timid demeanor of the tabletop players throughout the season illustrates that no team is more vulnerable than when you are in front.
In fact, the division’s leadership has changed hands an incredible twenty times; Of the current top six, only the Lobos in sixth place have not sat at the top of the table at any time. Add in Nottingham Forest, which set the pace for the start of the season, which was ranked first twice, over a total of 38 days, and one would be forgiven for imagining the Championship trophy covered in butter, so difficult has it turned out to stay in pole position.

Yet Bournemouth will hope to do just that when they hit the home straight, having found their way to the top seven times, and then falling out of position no fewer than six. His dominance from mid-December to early February will prove to be the longest residency of any team this season, with a total of 59 days of his top-of-the-table tally now reaching triple digits. Derby has accumulated the second-highest total, with 56 days of leadership divided into three periods. However, a recent seven-game winless streak appears to have put an end to his hopes of snapping a top two spot. While the wool-dyed believers (Rams) still hope to make up a five-point deficit to second place (76 points), realistically Steve McClaren’s team will aim to secure a play-off spot, in between. fierce competition from the three teams around them: Fit Wolves (71 points); the dangerous Brentford (70) and the tough Ipswich. (It remains to be seen if fans can bear the possibility of the same heartbreak they experienced at last year’s Wembley final.)

Norwich led the pack twice early in the season, until an unremarkable lengthy period saw a coach change, leading to a staggering resurgence under incoming Alex Neil, a relatively inexperienced (and unusually youthful) option for manage a club with such high expectations. However, what Neil lacks in management hours, he arguably makes up for in success, having led his Hamilton team to the top flight in Scotland last year, and then briefly to the top in his first. season there. Having found their way to second place after a ten win streak in thirteen games, their relatively straightforward remaining matches can help ensure that the Canaries return to the Premier League the first moment they ask.

Rounding out the top four are Watford (76 points) and Middlesbrough (75), who met on Easter Monday in a match that saw the latter defeated 0-2 and simultaneously deposed from top. In fact, these two teams, of all the contestants, have shown to have the most unstable control of the first place, having held it four times, without having managed to settle down and feel comfortable. Middlesbrough’s day count in the first numbers only thirteen; Watford is even less, only ten.

So with only five match days remaining, what more drama can we expect? And who will emerge triumphant? It is certainly difficult to see beyond Bournemouth’s brilliant and successful football brand, as long as they continue to “play the game, not the occasion” and do not experience the kind of nervousness one might forgive from a team on the brink of the game. Grace. the top flight for the first time in its history. Their recent comeback against Birmingham, in which they canceled a worrisome two-goal deficit to prevail with ease, suggests that they may finally be ready to take the bull by the horns. Mimicking Norwich, the Cherries have an eminently winnable set of games to match, putting their fate in their own hands.

Wolverhampton’s charge at the end of the season (four wins in a row at the moment) may convince many that they are ready to storm the play-offs, provided they are not reviewed by another jaw-dropping push from Brentford, the surprise package from this year. Despite Bakary Sako’s enduring class, and the scoring momentum provided by New Years signing Benik Afobe, perhaps the Wolves still lack the all-round quality that would surely be needed to defeat a Middlesbrough or Derby in two games; in fact, most would agree that the cunning and experience on both sides are likely to serve them well when the playing field is level and four teams start anew in pursuit of that final promotion spot. However, don’t rule out Watford, whose three-pronged striking force has been as lethal on many occasions as his defense has looked suspicious.

The advice of this expert?
Bournemouth and Norwich, with Derby to make up for last year’s Wembley woes for the second time.

May the best teams win!