Championship preview - 5/2 - 6/2 - Sheffield United

Blades Mad's predicted game of the week: Newcastle United vs Cardiff City

The Geordies face a stern Cardiff City side this evening at St James' Park; a win for either side will be valuable as both outfits are vying for automatic promotion. Chris Hughton's outfit haven't lost in 16 games in the league when a double from Martyn Woolford earned Scunthorpe a 2:1 victory over the table-toppers in October. Cardiff, meanwhile, haven't lost since their surprising loss of two points at London Road. The Bluebirds were 0:4 up at half-time, but allowed Posh to pull back an amazing four goals in the second-half. If Newcastle lose, West Brom have the chance to go top!

Elsewhere in this weekend's Championship:

This weekend's Coca-Cola Championship sees West Bromwich Albion travel to lowly Plymouth, play-off hopefuls Swansea and Preston battle it out at the Liberty Stadium, and Forest take on Wednesday. Another game which may raise some eyebrows is Blackpool vs Leicester - Ian Holloway faces his former employer. Three points in this game would go a long way for two teams pipped to make the top six. The Blades, of course, face Derby County at the Lane.

The fixtures in full:

Friday 5th February 2010

Newcastle vs Cardiff

Saturday 6th February 2010:

Barnsley vs Watford

Blackpool vs Leicester

Bristol City vs Coventry

Doncaster vs Reading (Live on Sky Sports)

Ipswich vs Middlesbrough

Nottingham Forest vs Sheffield Wednesday

Peterborough vs QPR

Plymouth vs West Brom

Scunthorpe vs Crystal Palace

Sheffield United vs Derby

Swansea vs Preston

The league table currently stands as follows:

Latest match Wednesday, 3rd February 2010		Pld	Home					Away					Overall					Pts	EP
Latest match Wednesday, 3rd February 2010		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	EP

1	Newcastle United	27	10	4	0	25	6	6	4	3	18	10	16	8	3	43	16	56	+27
2	West Bromwich Albion	28	8	2	4	29	15	7	6	1	29	16	15	8	5	58	31	53	+27

3	Nottingham Forest	28	10	1	3	31	12	4	9	1	13	9	14	10	4	44	21	52	+23
4	Cardiff City	27	6	3	4	22	11	7	3	4	30	19	13	6	8	52	30	45	+22
5	Swansea City	27	6	6	2	11	8	4	6	3	12	12	10	12	5	23	20	42	+3
6	Sheffield United	28	7	5	2	23	14	4	3	7	17	25	11	8	9	40	39	41	+1

7	Blackpool	28	7	4	3	27	15	3	6	5	18	21	10	10	8	45	36	40	+9
8	Leicester City	26	7	4	3	18	12	3	5	4	11	15	10	9	7	29	27	39	+2
9	Middlesbrough	28	4	4	6	12	15	6	3	5	27	17	10	7	11	39	32	37	+7
10	Bristol City	27	6	6	2	21	19	2	6	5	12	18	8	12	7	33	37	36	-4
11	Barnsley	27	5	4	5	18	21	5	2	6	18	20	10	6	11	36	41	36	-5
12	Watford	27	6	4	3	24	16	3	4	7	15	26	9	8	10	39	42	35	-3
13	Preston North End	27	5	5	3	18	14	4	3	7	14	23	9	8	10	32	37	35	-5
14	Queens Park Rangers	27	4	6	3	24	19	4	4	6	16	25	8	10	9	40	44	34	-4
15	Doncaster Rovers	26	6	5	2	19	14	2	4	7	14	20	8	9	9	33	34	33	-1
16	Coventry City	28	5	6	3	19	18	3	3	8	13	22	8	9	11	32	40	33	-8
17	Scunthorpe United	27	6	3	4	19	17	3	3	8	14	29	9	6	12	33	46	33	-13
18	Derby County	28	7	1	6	20	22	2	4	8	9	18	9	5	14	29	40	32	-11
19	Sheffield Wednesday	28	5	3	6	21	23	3	4	7	12	22	8	7	13	33	45	31	-12
20	Crystal Palace (-10)	27	6	4	3	17	14	4	6	4	14	15	10	10	7	31	29	30	+2
21	Ipswich Town	27	4	8	2	16	15	1	6	6	15	24	5	14	8	31	39	29	-8

22	Reading	27	2	6	5	10	16	4	2	8	18	28	6	8	13	28	44	26	-16
23	Plymouth Argyle	26	4	2	7	13	16	3	1	9	10	21	7	3	16	23	37	24	-14
24	Peterborough United	28	3	5	6	23	26	0	4	10	9	25	3	9	16	32	51	18	-19

Colour key
	League Champions	Relegation place(s)	Team(s) to be transferred
	Promotion place(s)	Play-off place(s)	Team(s) set to merge

Points adjustments
28/01/2010	Crystal Palace	Deducted ten points for entering administration.

Position ordering

Teams level on both goal difference and goals scored are initially ordered according to the results of any matches played between one another.

Championship review - 5/2 - 6/2 will be published over the weekend,

Championship preview - 5/2 - 6/2

Last updated : 05 February 2010 By Bladesmadeditor