The teams in the Championship relegation battle that Pundit Sam Parkin is most worried about are Stoke City, Birmingham City, and Plymouth Argyle.
With several teams in risk of falling into League One, the season’s conclusion at the bottom of the second division is developing into something really exciting.
Since Marti Cifuentes and Danny Rohl were appointed, Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday have been playing well. Many clubs above them have been forced to contend, and as of now, only five points separate the teams in 16th and 23rd place.
Birmingham reinstated former manager Gary Rowett as interim head coach last week after Tony Mowbray was ruled out due to illness. However, Rowett has a difficult task ahead of him because the team is only one goal above the bottom three on goal differential.
While fans at Plymouth are calling for Ian Foster to be fired following Saturday’s 1-0 home loss to Preston North End, there has been conjecture regarding Schumacher’s future at Stoke in recent months. However, it appears that the Potters will stick with him for the time being.
Parkin acknowledges that he is concerned about Stoke, Birmingham, and Plymouth but he thinks that both QPR and Sheffield Wednesday will remain in the Championship this year.
According to Parkinson, “I can’t remember anything like this,” the BBC’s Football Daily program featured him.
“I was stupid on this front, I think a couple of months ago I thought it was probably three from four when it was Rotherham, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield and QPR.
“It looked like those were going to be the ones fighting it out, so to have all these teams dragged in is just amazing for the neutral.
“A big part of that is down to the resurgence of Sheffield Wednesday and QPR, changing the managers, had that upturn initially and had little dips, but they’ve just been able to pick up wins.
“I think it’s shown the merit in winning games rather than picking up those points, even if they’ve suffered a few defeats.
“Those two have dragged everyone back in, I’d be really confident that those sides will remain, so there’s going to be, in my opinion, some big hitters falling out of the division this year.
“You’ve got to look at Stoke and be concerned, you’ve got to look at Birmingham, and probably Plymouth would be the other one.
“For Plymouth, it was the nature of the recent defeat to Preston, you can understand them losing at home to West Brom, Leeds and teams like that right at the summit of the table.
“I think with the lack of goals, especially at Home Park, you’ve got to fear for them that it’s going to be a real tight end of the season for them.”
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