Middlesbrough and Burnley occupy the top spots but Chris Hughton’s side are playing with the most freedomIn the past month or so,the Championship’s top three teams have played 21 games between them. They have lost none, drawn six, or scored 40 goals. Four of those six draws can be accounted for by games between the sides in question. On 15 March,the gap between moment and fourth area was two points – now it is eight. Like middle-distance runners who have kept a regular pace for three-quarters of a race but move up a gear when the end is in sight, Middlesbrough, and Burnley and Brighton & Hove Albion are pulling away to leave the rest huffing and trailing in their wake.
Even by the Championships standards,the pace of the elope-in has been ferocious. Burnley are on a 20-game unbeaten elope; Middlesbrough’s past three games have been decided by goals in injury-time; Brighton have scored nine in their past two. Frantic barely covers it. Only two teams can avoid the health-ruining trauma of the playoffs, but all three have played like they deserve automatic promotion.
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Source: theguardian.com