Thought it would be worth looking at the remaining fixtures for the top five clubs.
Will we be able to catch Sunderland or Portsmouth and secure a play off second leg at home? Of the top five teams, we have the easiest stretch of games to end the season if looking at league positions.
Sunderland have a number of tough home games but also have game(s) in hand on the rest of the pack.
Charlton:
Bradford (24th) (H)
Plymouth (14th) (A)
Wycombe (16th) (A)
Luton (1st) (H)
Oxford (13th) (A)
Scunthorpe (18th) (H)
Gillingham (12th) (A)
Rochdale (22nd) (H)
Avg position of home opponents: 16th
Avg position of away opponents: 14th
Sunderland:
Burton (10th) (H)
Accrington (17th) (A)
Rochdale (22nd) (A)
Coventry (9th) (H)
Doncaster (7th) (H)
Peterborough (6th) (A)
Portsmouth (3rd) (H)
Fleetwood (11th)(A)
Southend (20th) (A)
Avg position of home opponents: 7th
Avg position of away opponents: 15th
Portsmouth:
Peterborough (6th) (H)
Wycombe (16th) (A)
Rochdale (22nd) (H)
Burton (10th) (A)
Coventry (9th) (H)
Sunderland (4th) (A)
Accrington (17th) (H)
Avg position of home opponents: 14th
Avg position of away opponents: 10th
Barnsley:
Coventry (9th) (H)
Burton (10th) (A)
Fleetwood (11th) (H)
Shrewsbury (19th) (H)
Plymouth (14th) (A)
Blackpool (8th) (H)
Bristol Rovers (15th) (A)
Avg position of home opponents: 12th
Avg position of away opponents: 13th
Luton:
Bristol Rovers (15th) (A)
Blackpool (8th) (H)
Charlton (5th) (A)
Accrington (17th) (A)
AFC Wimbledon (23rd) (H)
Burton (10th) (A)
Oxford (13th) (H)
Avg position of home opponents: 15th
Avg position of away opponents: 12th
11
Comments
Bradford (24th) (H) - W
Plymouth (14th) (A) - D
Wycombe (16th) (A) - W
Luton (1st) (H) - D
Oxford (13th) (A) - W
Scunthorpe (18th) (H) - W
Gillingham (12th) (A) - L
Rochdale (22nd) (H) -W
POINTS GAINED - 17
Sunderland:
Burton (10th) (H) - W
Accrington (17th) (A) -W
Rochdale (22nd) (A) -W
Coventry (9th) (H) -W
Doncaster (7th) (H) - D
Peterborough (6th) (A) -L
Portsmouth (3rd) (H) -D
Fleetwood (11th)(A) -D
Southend (20th) (A) -W
POINTS GAINED - 18
Portsmouth:
Peterborough (6th) (H) - D
Wycombe (16th) (A) - W
Rochdale (22nd) (H) - W
Burton (10th) (A) - D
Coventry (9th) (H) - W
Sunderland (4th) (A) -D
Accrington (17th) (H) -W
POINTS GAINED - 15
Barnsley:
Coventry (9th) (H) - W
Burton (10th) (A) - D
Fleetwood (11th) (H) -W
Shrewsbury (19th) (H) -W
Plymouth (14th) (A) -D
Blackpool (8th) (H) - W
Bristol Rovers (15th) (A) - D
POINTS GAINED - 15
Luton:
Bristol Rovers (15th) (A) - W
Blackpool (8th) (H) - W
Charlton (5th) (A) - D
Accrington (17th) (A) - W
AFC Wimbledon (23rd) (H) - W
Burton (10th) (A) -D
Oxford (13th) (H) -W
POINTS GAINED - 17
FINAL LEAGUE PLACES ACCORDING TO THE ABOVE-:
1 - Luton - 100
2 - Barnsley - 93
3 - Sunderland - 91
4 - Portsmouth - 89
5 - Charlton - 84
Its early Sunday morning so there could well be mistakes in the above calculations.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/league-one/table
I'm not sure the top two is in reach but out of the teams above us the way I see it is
Luton - home and hosed as champions
Barnsley - not the same as they were, injuries have kicked in
Portsmouth - already beaten them twice, so they will probably beat us over two legs or at Wembley just down to sods law.
Sunderland - would beat us over two legs or Wembley just because of 1998
I fancy us to beat whoever finishes in 6th though if they got to Wembley but i'd certainly rather us play Barnsley over two legs. Probably Portsmouth next if we can take a lead to Fratton Park and hold out down there. Sunderland I don't see us beating whichever way so would prefer them to make 2nd place.
I expect Luton to be champions, and us to be 5th, but the other places are up for grabs. Burton's next 2 matches are against Barnsley and Sunderland, and then after Scunthorpe they play Pompey!
Tough run in that is for Burton, they also play Peterborough last day of the season, but they could have a huge say in who finishes where.
Sunderland are favourites for me to come second. Run ins suggest 91 points would give us a good chance, but we don't score enough goals to win our six remaining games. It is the same sort of thing as looking at Barnsley. We haven't hit a wall and defensively we are as good as anybody at the moment, but we completely outplayed Pompey and could have got a draw - we just need a bit too much offensive luck to sweep every side we play aside.
They’re definitely going to drop some points in that lot of fixtures. Lots of travelling, no real time to train, all recovery and light sessions.
They’ve also drawn 1-1 an astonishing 13 times this season in all competitions, 12 of them in the league.
By that I would say Sunderland will pick up about 15 points meaning they finish on 88. Probably in third.
If you want to understand why Sunderland have drawn so many, watch that game though. They are a sit back when we are ahead team. Would love to play them in Play offs if they don't get automatic.
That's what's worrying me. They are the one team I don't want to face IF we get to Wembley - they can't lose three Wembley finals on the trot, surely?
2.) championship clubs don't play in it