EFL preview: ‘Titanic promotion tussle’ and a six-pointer

At the other end of the Championship, all eyes are on a potentially huge relegation scrap between Hull City and Luton Town at lunchtime on Saturday.

The Hatters have been showing signs of life with seven points from their past four games and go into the weekend second-bottom, two points ahead of Plymouth and four behind fourth-bottom Cardiff, who have a better goal difference.

The Tigers are another two points and two places into the distance after a run of eight points from their past four games.

The average points achieved by teams staying up over the past five seasons in 21st place is 46.8 – Plymouth managed 51 points last season, Cardiff City 49 in 2023, but Reading only needed 41 to beat the drop in 2022.

Luton currently have 35 with eight games left to play and Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield told BBC Three Counties Radio: “We just have to make sure we attack every game individually but with an understanding of what the season may look like.

“If we keep doing what we can do, we believe we can get to the figure that we’re going to need.”

Hull’s clash with Luton is one of at least nine remaining fixtures between sides near the bottom which may fall under the “relegation six-pointer” category.

Luton will face Stoke and Derby before the end of the season, while the Rams also visit Portsmouth and Hull in April before hosting the Potters on the final day.

Cardiff will welcome both Stoke and Oxford next month and Pompey take on Hull in the last game of the season.