Birmingham City have used up all of their lifelines and require a final day turnaround to retain their Championship status.
Away games versus Rotherham and Huddersfield were supposed to yield enough points for survival, but Blues left the John Smith’s Stadium on last weekend having failed to win either. Two points from two matches against the Championship’s bottom two has left Blues on the brink of joining them in League One next season.
There is still hope heading into today's meeting with Norwich City, who will contest the play-offs barring a miraculous sequence of results.. Blues have to win and hope Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday or Blackburn Rovers slip up.
Norwich are fifth in the Championship thanks to their exceptional Carrow Road record, the Canaries are no great shakes on the road. They have been defeated in five of their last 11 away matches and sit 19th in the Championship away league table.
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Blues’ home record has been fairly strong throughout the season. Nine of their 12 league wins have been secured at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park. However, their recent record against Norwich is woeful.
Blues have won once in their last 16 meetings with the Canaries - a 3-0 win in August 2016 during interim manager Gary Rowett's first spell in charge. Norwich have won nine of the last 10 league meetings between the two sides.
We all know what happens if Blues don’t win today. Here are the standings and final day permutations…
The table
Final day matches
Birmingham City vs Norwich City
Leicester City vs Blackburn Rovers
Plymouth Argyle vs Hull City
Sunderland vs Sheffield Wednesday
Only a freak scoreline in Plymouth’s meeting with Hull City would enable Blues to stay up with a draw against Norwich. Due to Plymouth’s superior goal difference, -12 compared to Blues’ -16, they would have to lose by five goals for Blues to survive with 48 points.
Hull are still in the mix for the play-offs and require a victory to give themselves any chance of pipping West Bromwich Albion to sixth, but Plymouth have been strong on home soil and are unlikely to get walloped.
Blues’ situation is clear cut. They have to beat Norwich to put Plymouth, Wednesday and Blackburn under pressure. If Blues win, Plymouth will go down if they fail to win. Wednesday and Blackburn will only be in danger if they lose on the final day, a point will be enough for both teams to finish above Blues.
Sunderland - who host Wednesday on the final day - have taken nine points from the last 42 on offer and don’t fill anyone with confidence. But Blackburn travel to the King Power Stadium to take on Premier League-bound Leicester City. The Foxes have already been promoted and will be reluctant to let Blackburn spoil their party on the final day.
