EFL preview: Luton Town, Plymouth Argyle and Derby County need to get moving

It has taken a while, but Birmingham look to have broken the back of League One – seven points clear at the top and 11 ahead of third place – a return to the Championship seems inevitable.

But, and Blues fans always know there is a but, the next five games will be a huge test with Charlton, Reading, Leyton Orient, Wycombe and Bolton to come in the space of four weeks.

The visit of the Addicks on Saturday brings the top two in the form table face-to-face with Nathan Jones’ Londoners up to fifth place with one defeat from 13 league games.

Chasing Birmingham are Wycombe Wanderers, who have just carried on as normal following the departure of Matt Bloomfield to Luton.

Mike Dodds takes charge of his first league game for the Chairboys as they head to Crawley.

Barnsley might only be six points adrift of the play-offs and Saturday’s opponents Huddersfield, but their Yorkshire derby feels like a last chance to stay in touch with the leading pack, with four defeats and five games without a win sticking a pin in their promotion balloon.

The good news for Oakwell fans is the Terriers themselves are five without a victory and hardly setting things alight.

If Barnsley are in last chance saloon, at the bottom Burton Albion’s six-game unbeaten run has given them a chance of the great escape.

The Brewers are four points from safety and only six behind the Bristol Rovers side they visit on Saturday.

Mansfield Town’s trip to Blackpool might not hit the headlines this weekend, but you can bet when you have lost six league games in a row, the Stags boss, Nigel Clough, will be giving it his full attention.

Clough has not been helped by the loss of strikers Lee Gregory and Rhys Oates for the rest of the season as he looks to halt their slide.

“We are getting kicked from pillar to post with every single little thing at the moment. That is the way it is going, and we have to cope with it somehow,” he told BBC Radio Nottingham.