Championship: Leeds March on as Top Six Race Heats Up - Odds Watch

The past week has been make or break at the top end of the Championship, and Leeds United are firmly being made. As a result, there is now a lot more confidence in their chances of winning the league.

Leeds Leave It Late Again

After the win against Sunderland last weekend, Leeds United have made the fight for the title between three teams. This week, they propelled themselves perhaps into a one-team fight.

Despite going a goal down against Sheffield United, the Whites turned on the style and grabbed three goals (two of which came after the 88th minute), showing how good they are in the late stages of games.

With the result, they now have a five-point gap to the Blades, and they are the clear favourites for the league title, though they have arguably been for some time.

The Championship is an unpredictable league at the best of times, and whilst there is a large gap now, we have often seen teams struggle with the weight of it. In other words, it is not a done deal yet.

Elsewhere, we have Burnley, who beat Sheffield Wednesday convincingly on Friday night, and this brings to light an interesting question. This season, the Clarets have been somewhat inconsistent with their goalscoring, but if they can start a streak of scoring, they could be the most credible challengers to the Peacocks.

Top Six Challenged Aggressively

For most of the season, we have looked at 3/4 teams for the title, and then a couple of teams in this area. However, it's the Championship, and it's never easy, is it? So, we are extending this area to cover six teams, as there are definitely six or more (outside of the top three) who could try for a play-off place.

At present, eleven points separate fifth and 16th, which just shows how much room there is to change and how many teams can actually challenge for the play-offs.

We'll start with the three teams sat in the play-offs. Sunderland could, perhaps, still be in an automatic promotion conversation, but another loss this weekend suggests that they will be in a play-off place at the end of the season.

West Brom's win against Oxford has put them back into fifth place, but they are by no means secure there. Especially with themselves and Blackburn Rovers often leapfrogging one another - as seen this week with the Lancashire outfits loss.

I've been taking my fancy with Coventry for some time now, and they are probably the strongest play-off contenders outside of the top six now, and I think they have an excellent chance of sneaking in.

I'm also starting to take note of Bristol City, who have been meandering around the play-offs all season. The Robins have picked up a few nice results of late, and with the two teams in fifth and sixth failing to really establish themselves, there could be an opportunity.

Depressing at the Bottom

We're starting at the bottom, and once again it's Luton Town. Their fall-off this season has been something, that's for sure, and unfortunately, there are no signs of it changing. A loss to local rivals Watford is another bad result, and just when they were given a chance to perhaps get some momentum, they didn't take it.

Derby also failed to win this weekend and John Eustace certainly has not had the best start to life with the Rams. Leaving Blackburn seemed a slightly odd decision, but if he gets relegated with Derby, it will seem even more so like one.

Plymouth then reside in the final spot, in the relegation zone, but a draw at the weekend against Cardiff is not a great result, especially considering where the Bluebirds are. They are definitely improving, but I'm unsure about how far their ceiling really is.

I'm still really unconvinced by Cardiff, and given they now reside just above the drop zone, they are definitely in a lot of danger entering the last two months of the season...