Leicester City took a step closer to their final goal of the season this week and will try to do it again when they take on Middlesbrough this weekend.
With a comfortable 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night and Southampton’s defeat to Bristol City, City’s advantage at the top of the standings has increased, as has the gap to third place. Enzo Maresco’s charges now have a 12-point advantage over Leeds United in second place and 14 over Saints in third.
City’s first priority will be to return to the Premier League as soon as possible. We are now at the point in the season where we need to calculate how many points are needed in the remaining games to make that happen.
First, let’s take a look at the guaranteed top two. City still need 31 points to be 100% sure of that, but 30 points should be enough given the better goal difference.
Quite simply, that means 10 wins in the remaining 14 games. That would take us to 108 points, which is the maximum that both second-placed United and fourth-placed Ipswich, who have a game more, can achieve in their remaining games.
At the moment, the race for second place is so close that City need just one more point to secure the title. Mathematically, 32 points would be guaranteed again, but realistically 31 points should be enough to secure first place and allow City to reach the Saints’ maximum tally of 109 points.
These two points would of course put City above Reading’s points tally in the Championship. The Royals scored 106 points in 2006. For City to surpass that total, they need 29 more points, which means they can afford four defeats and one draw in the remaining 14 games they will play between now and the end of the season.
A lot can happen in any championship season, and there are still many twists and turns to come. One thing is for sure, we will be using the calculators a lot more in the coming weeks and months.