Where are Sunderland predicted to finish in this season’s Championship table?

An intriguing weekend lies in wait as the business end of the Championship promotion race rapidly approaches.

Sheffield United strengthened their grip on an automatic promotion place after claiming a 3-1 home win against Middlesbrough in midweek and the Blades will aim to move to the top of the table for at least 48 hours by securing another three points in their visit to struggling Luton Town on Saturday. Burnley continued to show their defensive discipline and organisation by keeping a tenth consecutive clean sheet against Luton on Wednesday night and Scott Parker’s men make the short trip to Preston North End this lunchtime with the aim of putting pressure on the two sides above them in the table.

Monday night brings the game of the weekend as Leeds United and Sunderland both look to build on midweek wins when they meet at Elland Road. Goals from Enzo Le Fee and Wilson Isidor put the Black Cats on their way to a 2-0 home win against Luton on Wednesday night and Regis Le Bris and his players will now travel to face the leaders knowing a win could move them to within two points of the top two if results elsewhere go their way.

However, it is Leeds that lead the division as the final third of the season arrives after they lost just three of their 32 league games so far this season. A Daniel James brace and a goal apiece from Manor Solomon and Joel Piroe helped Daniel Farke’s side stroll to a 4-0 win at Watford on Tuesday and they will know they will face a more difficult challenge when they host the Black Cats as a busy weekend across the Championship is rounded off on Monday.

Ahead of some crucial fixtures at both ends of the second tier of the English game, we take a look at a predicted final table provided by the stats experts at OPTA.

Where are Sunderland predicted to finish in this season’s Championship?

1st. Leeds United - 97 points 2nd. Sheffield United - 91 points 3rd. Burnley - 90 points 4th. Sunderland - 84 points 5th. Blackburn Rovers - 69 points 6th. West Bromwich Albion - 68 points 7th. Middlesbrough - 66 points 8th. Sheffield Wednesday - 65 points 9th. Coventry City - 65 points 10th. Bristol City - 64 points 11th. Norwich City - 63 points 12th. Preston North End - 61 points 13th. Watford - 60 points 14th. Millwall - 59 points 15th. QPR - 58 points 16th. Oxford United - 54 points 17th. Swansea City - 53 points 18th. Stoke City - 50 points 19th. Portsmouth - 50 points 20th. Hull City - 48 points 21st. Cardiff City - 48 points 22nd. Derby County - 45 points 23rd. Plymouth Argyle - 44 points 24th. Luton Town - 44 points