The Championship: Each group can nonetheless go up or down with 4 video games left

Premier League parachute funds have typically been accused of distorting competitors within the Championship.

Up to now 10 seasons half of relegated groups (15 of 30) have bounced straight again to the Premier League.

Though just lately relegated Leeds, Burnley and Sheffield United look properly positioned for a right away return, Luton – who went down final season – are at risk of dropping into League One.

Over the previous decade 14 groups on this 12 months’s Championship have frolicked within the high tier, whereas no group has spent greater than 10 years within the division. QPR had been relegated in 2015, whereas Bristol Metropolis and Preston – neither of whom have performed within the Premier League – had been promoted in the identical 12 months.

That unpredictability and feeling anybody can beat anybody was highlighted final weekend, when joint-bottom Plymouth beat Sheffield United..

“Ignoring the truth that the golf equipment relegated from the Premier League have an unfair monetary benefit due to parachute funds, a well-run, hardworking, well-coached group that’s astute within the switch market has each probability of creating it to the play-offs, the place stature counts for nothing,” David from the Endlessly Bristol Metropolis Podcast advised BBC Sport.

“Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton have all proven what could be achieved from humble foundations.”