It hasn't been a good week for Norwich. Having lost at Swansea they followed that up with just one point at Watford and that opened the door for Cardiff who won at Sheffield United. It's so close though, and Reading, in fifth place, are only three points behind Cardiff.
Reading now have 26 points from their last ten games, four more than QPR who are next best. And the top clubs must have been showing some form recently because all but Leeds from the top six remain in the top six over the last ten games.
Leeds have only 12 points from their last 10 games but Nottingham Forest, again the closest team to the play offs have won a paltry 7 points including those they got from us.
Once again it looks as only that one play off place remains available, such is the form of the other five, and there are still a number of clubs fighting for it and Eddie Howe has certainly not ruled out Burnley.
Down at the bottom, none of the bottom four were winners although both Crystal Palace and Preston did get draws. I still think it will be difficult for any of the bottom three to escape but the critical fixtures this weekend will have some say as the bottom four play each other.
Those fixtures are below along with the results and stats for the midweek games, the leading goalscorers and each club's disciplinary records.
The Midweek Results | |
Tuesday 12th April | |
Barnsley 0 QPR 1 | Nottingham Forest 2 Burnley 0 |
Derby 2 Leeds 1 | Portsmouth 0 Coventry 3 |
Doncaster 1 Preston 1 | Scunthorpe 0 Reading 2 |
Ipswich 3 Middlesbrough 3 | Sheffield United 0 Cardiff 2 |
Leicester 1 Crystal Palace 1 | Swansea 1 Hull 1 |
Millwall 0 Bristol City 0 | Watford 2 Norwich 2 |
The Midweek Stats | |
Biggest win | Coventry 3-0 v Portsmouth (away) |
Total goals scored | 29 (12 home - 17 away) |
Player scoring most goals | Marlon King (Coventry) |
Highest Attendance | 27,252 - Derby v Leeds |
Lowest Attendance | 4,458 - Scunthorpe v Reading |
Total Yellow Cards | 44 |
Total Red Cards | 3 |
Most cards in a game | Scunthorpe v Reading (9Y) - Andy Woolmer |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
23 | Danny Graham (Watford) - includes 1 penalty |
21 | Shane Long (Reading) - includes 5 penalties |
19 | Grant Holt (Norwich) - includes 3 penalties |
18 | Luciano Becchio (Leeds) |
17 | Max Gradel (Leeds) - includes 2 penalties |
16 | Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff) - includes 1 penalty Scott Sinclair (Swansea) - includes 5 penalties Adel Taarabt (QPR) - includes 6 penalties |
15 | Bill Sharp (Doncaster) - includes 4 penalties Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty |
13 | Kris Commons (Derby) - includes 2 penalties Andy King (Leicester) |
12 | Heidar Helguson (QPR) - includes 5 penalties Lewis McGugan (Nottingham Forest) - includes 3 penalties Jay Rodriguez (Burnley) |
11 | Iain Hume (Preston) Chris Iwelumo (Burnley) David Nugent (Portsmouth) Brett Pitman (Bristol City) - includes 3 penalties Davide Somma (Leeds) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
11th Sep | 3 - Chris Iwelumo - BURNLEY v Preston |
14th Sep | 3 - James Coppinger - DONCASTER v Norwich |
14th Sep | 3 - James Vaughan - CRYSTAL PALACE v Portsmouth |
28th Sep | 3 - Jon Parkin - Leeds v PRESTON |
30th Oct | 3 - Jonny Howson - Scunthorpe v LEEDS |
13th Nov | 3 - Luciano Becchio - LEEDS v Bristol City |
27th Nov | 3 - Grant Holt - NORWICH v Leeds |
28th Dec | 3 - Wes Hoolahan - NORWICH v Sheffield United |
1st Jan | 3 - Jason Puncheon - MILLWALL v Crystal Palace |
5th Feb | 3 - Matt Fryatt - Scunthorpe v HULL |
15th Feb | 3 - Connor Wickham - Doncaster v IPSWICH |
2nd Apr | 3 - Grant Holt - NORWICH v Scunthorpe |
2nd Apr | 3 - Simeon Jackson - NORWICH v Scunthorpe |
2nd Apr | 3 - Yakubu - Middlesbrough v LEICESTER |
Disciplinary Record (all domestic games) | |||||
Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
Barnsley | 61 | 2 | Middlesbrough | 56 | 1 |
Bristol City | 55 | 2 | Millwall | 61 | 5 |
Burnley | 78 | 5 | Norwich | 66 | 3 |
Cardiff | 52 | 1 | Nottingham Forest | 64 | 2 |
Coventry | 63 | 5 | Portsmouth | 77 | 8 |
Crystal Palace | 74 | 7 | Preston | 82 | 5 |
Derby | 70 | 2 | QPR | 63 | 6 |
Doncaster | 44 | 3 | Reading | 67 | 4 |
Hull | 73 | 2 | Scunthorpe | 52 | 3 |
Ipswich | 65 | 4 | Sheffield United | 67 | 10 |
Leeds | 80 | 4 | Swansea | 58 | 2 |
Leicester | 50 | 3 | Watford | 50 | 2 |
The Next Fixtures | |
Friday 15th April | |
Norwich v Nottingham Forest | |
Saturday 16th April | |
Bristol City v Ipswich | Hull v Doncaster |
Burnley v Swansea | Leeds v Watford |
Cardiff v Portsmouth | Middlesbrough v Barnsley |
Coventry v Millwall | Preston v Sheffield United |
Crystal Palace v Scunthorpe | Reading v Leicester |
Monday 18th April | |
QPR v Derby | |
Tuesday 19th April | |
Burnley v Middlesbrough |