Sheffield United and Middlesbrough's remaining fixtures compared | OneFootball

Sheffield United and Middlesbrough are currently battling for the second automatic promotion spot with Burnley all but promoted, in what is expected to be an enthralling end to this Championship campaign.

Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers remain in the hunt for automatic promotion, however, it does appear that the final automatic promotion position will be filled by one of the aforementioned duo.

The Blades have long been in the top two positions but have shown slight signs of wilting in more recent weeks, however, an important victory away at Sunderland and a FA Cup quarter-final win against Blackburn will have boosted confidence levels around Bramall Lane.

As for Boro, after a poor start to the season, they have really come into form under Michael Carrick, with the Teesside club showing automatic promotion form since the arrival of the former Manchester United midfielder in late October.

As we wait and see how the rest of the campaign plays out, here, we analyse the fixtures that both club still have to come...

Points per game analysis

Looking at the run-in analysis, via Soccer Stats, which is an average of the points per game of who both teams have left to play, then it would suggest the Blades would have an easier run-in.

Sheffield United's remaining opponents have an average of 1.33 points per game this season, compared to Middlesbrough's 1.46.

Whilst this can be a good measure to indicate how easy or difficult a set of fixtures are, form can go out the window when there are teams scrapping for their lives and other teams already on the beach.

Sheffield United breakdown

Norwich City (a)

Wigan Athletic (h)

Burnley (a)

Cardiff City (h)

Bristol City (h)

Huddersfield Town (a)

West Brom (h)

Preston North End (h)

Birmingham City (a)

In their last nine games, and, of course, the situations of these clubs might change before these fixtures are played out, there are two teams battling for a play-off spot, three striving to avoid relegation and Burnley, who will 100 points as an objective.

Burnley (h)

Bristol City (a)

Norwich City (h)

Hull City (h)

Luton Town (a)

Rotherham United (a)

Coventry City (h)

In their last eight games, Middlesbrough face two sides battling for a play-off spot, Luton, who will believe they are still in the running for automatic promotion, Burnley and two teams looking to avoid the Championship drop.

Conclusion

With Sheffield United possessing a game in hand on Boro, they will be striving to take full advantage and bridge a six-point advantage.

However, their extra game in hand, combined with the semi-final of the FA Cup to come, it is a hectic fixture list for Paul Heckingbottom and Co.

Boro are also the form team, which will add another layer of complication for the Blades.

However, you could argue that when looking at the individual fixtures, it is the Yorkshire club who have a slight advantage when it comes to favourability.