Championship Tuesday: Top Teams in Action in Key Fixtures

Sheffield Wednesday’s bid to avoid an immediate return to League One took another positive turn last Saturday, as they beat Championship basement club Rotherham for their third win in a row to move within three points of safety.

The Owls have been in the relegation zone since the second round of games this season but with the clubs immediately above them now bunching together, if they pick up more points tonight they’ll remain very much in the mix.

Plymouth, in 16th, are among that tight crop of clubs also fighting for survival. They’ve won three of their 11 games since Ian Foster took over in January and are only two points above the drop zone. The current form guide doesn’t look great either – only Watford and Rotherham have taken fewer than their four points in the last six games.

Stoke City‘s slide into Championship difficulties has been far from what Steven Schumacher hoped when he swapped Plymouth’s pasties for the Potteries plight mid-season.

The Potters just managed to stem their downward trajectory with the weekend’s 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, a welcome respite after a run of six defeats in seven and a tumble into the bottom-three – where they remain.

Still, not a night to be heading to Elland Road, where Daniel Farke‘s Leeds United have put the hammer down and zoomed into the automatic promotion picture on the back of nine wins from 10.

Huddersfield whacked a stick in the spokes by pinching a point from them in Sunday’s derby, but the Whites have an immediate chance to put pressure on second-placed Ipswich and leaders Leicester above with victory tonight.

Three defeats in a row is near-crisis territory for Leicester City given their seemingly relentless march towards a Premier League return for much of the season.

The mood isn’t quite as blue as the tones of their home colors but it’s verging on panic stations.

Good job for Enzo Maresca‘s wobbling league-leaders that they’re away to a Sunderland side hardly bristling with confidence either.

The Wearsiders have lost their past four in the Championship and are now nine points off the top six.

They’ve lost seven games at home this season, which shows having 40,000-plus crowds is no guarantee of a stadium becoming a fortress.

Fans fear the loss of Jack Clarke to injury for six weeks is essentially the end of their challenge this term. Mike Dodds might have to find a plan B to test Leicester.