A busy Easter weekend brings Championship treats aplenty, with a South Coast derby between Southampton and Portsmouth the pick of the fixtures.
Saints face Pompey; Royals host Whites; Hammers tackle Tykes
A busy Easter weekend brings Championship treats aplenty, with a South Coast derby between Southampton and Portsmouth the pick of the fixtures.
That contest will take place on Saturday lunchtime, but there are four Bank Holiday fixtures on Friday to whet the appetite.
Second-placed
Reading get the second tier action up and running, with the Royals hoping they can consolidate their standing inside the automatic promotion places when they play host to
Leeds - live on
Sky Sports 1 HD.
Burnley welcome
Brighton to Turf Moor with the visiting Seagulls determined to cling on to their play-off spot.
Blackpool are also inside the top six at present, but only goal difference is keeping them there and they know a positive result away at in-form
Watford is vital.
Friday's action is wrapped up at Oakwell, with
Barnsley hoping to put another dent in
West Ham's faltering promotion push.
A mouth-watering encounter at St Mary's kicks off Saturday's fixture list, with table-topping
Southampton looking to edge closer to the Premier League and pile more misery on their arch-rivals
Portsmouth.
Struggles
Birmingham occupy fourth spot heading into the weekend and will be hoping to catch
Crystal Palace on another off day - with the Eagles having struggled for form of late.
Middlesbrough and
Cardiff find themselves on the fringes of the play-off places and both will be looking to break out of runs that have brought four consecutive draws.
Four defeats on the bounce have seen
Hull City slip off the promotion pace and they desperately need to get their campaign back on track at lowly
Millwall.
Leicester may have given themselves too much to do in their efforts to join the play-off pack, but they will keep their foot on the gas when they welcome rock-bottom
Doncaster to the King Power Stadium.
Derby and
Ipswich are readying themselves for a mid-table battle in the Midlands, with the Rams currently sat just a point ahead of their weekend opponents.
A six-match unbeaten run has lifted
Coventry out of the drop zone and they will be hoping the momentum they have established carries them past inconsistent
Peterborough.
The final match of the weekend comes at the City Ground, as
Nottingham Forest lock horns with fellow strugglers
Bristol City in front of the
Sky Sports cameras.
