Forest are within sight of the Championship’s promotion places; going up would be one of the division’s most extraordinary ever turnarounds.
At the top of the EFL Championship, a messy scrap has been breaking out over the last few weeks. Fulham are already promoted but not yet champions, while Bournemouth’s previously comfortable position in second place has been slowly eroded by a succession of dropped points, with Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town in hot pursuit.
Bournemouth are three points ahead of Forest and Huddersfield. Huddersfield only have two games remaining, but Bournemouth and Forest have three left, and that third game is against each other on Tuesday May 3. The two teams are on the same goal difference, and Bournemouth have only scored two more than Forest. There are no realistic permutations by which this match isn’t critical. The Championship has effectively got itself a second play-off final.
In this battle, there is a favourite and an underdog. In terms of those final matches, Huddersfield need Forest to beat Bournemouth and, realistically, for both teams to lose their other two fixtures. Their chance of automatic promotion seems slight, but the race between Bournemouth and Forest seems likely to go to the wire. Bournemouth hold the whip hand. They are away to Blackburn and at home against Millwall in their remaining fixtures, while Forest are at home against Swansea and away to Hull. But crucially, when the two teams play each other, Bournemouth will have home advantage, and they may even go into that match needing just a point to guarantee promotion.
Having been in the Premier League has also given Bournemouth an advantage over Forest. While there, Bournemouth were the most-reliant club of all on TV money, and that same money now gives them a built-in advantage over most other clubs in the Championship. Bournemouth are in their second season back following relegation and have therefore been the beneficiaries of parachute…
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