Mark Robins concedes that with ten games left, the battle for a top six finish is likely to come down to Coventry City competing for the one play-off spot that remains.
After suffering back-to-back losses to promotion rivals Preston and West Brom, the Sky Blues bounced back with a 5-0 victory over bottom-of-the-table Rotherham United on Tuesday night. The manager acknowledged that the 2-1 loss to the Baggies “damaged” his team’s chances of contending for a higher spot. This weekend, the team travels to mid-table Watford.
The City manager, encouraged by the return of key midfielder Ben Sheaf from a six-week injury, stated, “We clearly need to pick up results and I said before the West Brom game that we have to try to pick up points in every game now.” The club is getting ready for the trip to Vicarage Road.
As Man City rallies from behind to win the derby, Pep Guardiola is all praise for Phil Foden.
“With 10 games remaining, we have a formidable challenge. The league is tight, as you can see. Any season is difficult to gain ground, but this one is especially difficult because everyone is close and the league is different. The competition is fierce from the bottom of the league to midtable and beyond, as you can see, and the games are getting closer as the best players start to pull away.
With five points separating fifth-placed West Brom on 60 from the top four spots in the Championship, Leicester (81), Ipswich (78), Leeds (76), and Southampton (70) look to be safe. Hull is now in sixth place with 57 points, followed by Norwich in seventh place with 55 and Coventry in eighth place with 54. Preston, Cardiff, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, and Watford are next with 53, 47, and 45 points respectively.
With 70 points, City finished fifth in the previous season; Sunderland came in slightly behind in sixth place with 69. That implies that of the 30 points still available, the Sky Blues may require as many as 15 or more.
Since West Brom appears to be gaining ground, Robins said, “among those top positions, we’re looking at maybe fifth and sixth, and maybe just sixth position where we’re fighting and scrapping to get into that final play-off position.” “We had to look forward and gain points in every game after that hurt us last Friday when we lost to them.”
The Baggies visit Huddersfield on Sunday, Norwich plays Rotherham on Saturday, and Hull takes on leaders Leicester at home in a difficult test.
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