Wrexham continue to defy expectations in the Championship, but the task of reaching the Premier League remains steep. Automatic promotion requires finishing in the top two and, with Coventry City appearing increasingly secure at the summit, Wrexham sit ten points behind second-placed Middlesbrough. Closing that gap would demand an almost flawless run.<\/p>\n
The automatic route is therefore improbable. The more credible aim for Phil Parkinson\u2019s squad is the playoffs. The teams finishing third to sixth in the second tier enter a knockout route consisting of a two-legged semi final and a final at Wembley to determine the third promoted club.<\/p>\n
Current standings among the top dozen underline the challenge. Coventry City top the table on 77 points; Middlesbrough are second on 70. Ipswich Town and Millwall occupy the next spots on 68 each, while Hull City sit on 63. Southampton and Wrexham are both on 60 points, but Southampton hold the superior goal difference.<\/p>\n
Wrexham were close to holding sixth place earlier in the week but lost that position when Southampton moved ahead. Southampton have the goal differential advantage to push Phil Parkinson\u2019s to seventh. Derby County, Watford and Birmingham City are also chasing the same places and keep the race congested.<\/p>\n
Fixture congestion does not help. Wrexham have eight Championship matches remaining following a setback at Watford. Only three of those games will be at the Racecourse Ground; five are away fixtures. The schedule includes matches against fellow hopefuls and difficult opponents, with key late fixtures against Coventry City and Middlesbrough.<\/p>\n
Remaining fixtures
\nMarch 21: Sheffield United (A)
\nApril 3: West Bromwich Albion (A)
\nApril 6: Southampton (H)
\nApril 11: Birmingham City (A)
\nApril 18: Stoke City (H)
\nApril 21: Oxford United (A)
\nApril 25: Coventry City (A)
\nMay 2: Middlesbrough (H)<\/p>\n
There is no magic points tally that secures a place in the Championship playoffs, but recent seasons suggest three or four more victories would likely be enough. Last term the sixth-placed side finished on 68 points, the lowest across the past five seasons, though 70 points is often required by those who make the playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wrexham have eight Championship matches left; automatic promotion unlikely, playoffs more realistic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1249,1421],"tags":[1162,1458],"class_list":["post-9074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-championship","category-wrexham","tag-analytics","tag-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}