The Football League Championship returns on Saturday, as Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion look to keep hold of their automatic promotion places.
It won’t be easy.
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Here is your guide to the final nine matchdays of the season for England’s second tier.
The top two
Marcelo Bielsa’s Peacocks and Slaven Bilic’s Baggies have 7- and 6-point cushions on third place with nine matches to go, a congested fixture list ready to tax the benches of all of the sides.
The playoff race
Third through sixth in the Championship will contest the playoffs for the third promotion spot to the Premier League.
Third-place Fulham will learn a lot about whether it’s in the race for automatic promotion or just a playoff probability within one week’s time. The Cottagers host fourth-place Brentford at 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday and go to Leeds one week later.
Fulham has 64 points, six back of second place and nine clear of seventh place. It would be very surprising if the Londoners didn’t keep hold of a playoff spot.
Brentford (60) and Nottingham Forest (60) have five-point advantages on seventh, nice but not too comfortable, while Preston North End’s one-point-above-sixth-place footing is uneven.
Six teams are within two wins of Preston’s 56 points. Seventh-place Bristol City has 55, Millwall and Cardiff City have 54, Blackburn and Swansea City have 53, Derby County has 51, and QPR’s on 50.
Americans Abroad
Speaking of QPR, USMNT veteran Geoff Cameron is a fixture for Mark Warburton’s London side. The 34-year-old has played 28 times this season.
Derby County has seen a fine season out of Duane Holmes, who has three goals and three assists. Not American, but ex-DC United man Wayne Rooney is Holmes’ teammate.
No American has played more Championship minutes than Fulham’s Tim Ream (3142). Next up are Wigan’s Antonee Robinson (2587) and Hull City’s Eric Lichaj (2546).
Matt Miazga is handling center back duties for Reading, while Cameron Carter-Vickers’ latest loan stint at Luton Town has gone well individually.
Luca De La Torre (Fulham) has seen neglible minutes this season.
English-born MLS and NCAA star Jack Harrison is with Leeds.
The relegation scrap
Three clubs will go down to League One next season. Two of the three teams in the bottom three will need a massive change in fortunes to avoid that fate.
Barnsley is seven points back of 21st and Luton Town sits six points back of safety.
Charlton Athletic is currently in 22nd with 39 points, but it can look to a single win as chance to move ahead of any of the five sides ahead of it (depending on how goal differential goes).
Hull City, Wigan Athletic, and Middlesbrough are just two points above the drop zone, while Stoke City and Huddersfield Town have three-point distances above the drop.
Charlton can pass Hull with a win at the KC Stadium on Saturday, though it’s only other chance to affect a fellow struggler is July 18 versus Wigan.
This week’s schedule
Fulham v. Brentford -- 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday
Middlesbrough v. Swansea City -- 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday
Millwall v. Derby County -- 8 a.m. ET Saturday
West Brom v. Birmingham City -- 10 a.m. ET Saturday
Huddersfield Town v. Wigan Athletic -- 10 a.m. ET Saturday
Hull City v. Charlton Athletic -- 10 a.m. ET Saturday
Sheffield Wednesday v. Nottingham Forest -- 10 a.m. ET Saturday
Luton Town v. Preston North End --10 a.m. ET Saturday
QPR v. Barnsley -- 10 a.m. ET Saturday
Reading v. Stoke City -- 10 a.m. ET Saturday
Blackburn Rovers v. Bristol City -- 10 a.m. ET Saturday
Cardiff City v. Leeds United -- 7 a.m. ET Sunday