Five things in the EFL: Unlikely six-pointers and falls from grace

The transfer window is behind us and it is now full steam ahead to the finish line.

Three months of the season remain in the EFL, which is once again throwing up some potentially historic stories.

West Bromwich Albion are staring down the barrel of a rare relegation to the third tier, Wrexham are dreaming of the top flight for the first time and a fairly recent FA Cup winner could be heading for League Two.

Here are five things to look out for across the Championship, League One and League Two this weekend - when all games kick off a minute late to highlight the Every Minute Matters, external CPR awareness campaign.

Granted, West Brom seem to be a major talking point every few days at the moment. But until things improve, the talk will not stop.

And it got even worse for the Baggies on Tuesday night as Blackburn's 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday meant Albion dropped into the Championship's bottom three for the first time since November 2022.

For a club of this size, relegation to League One almost certainly fits the cliche of "they are too big to go down".

This is a club that has only ever been relegated to the third tier once before. A club that has only spent two seasons outside the top two tiers of English football in their entire 148-year history - in 1991-92 after relegation and then 1992-93 when they won promotion back to the second tier.

In-fact, 13 of Albion's past 23 campaigns were spent in the Premier League. But badges do not win football matches.

A relatively inexperienced head coach in Eric Ramsay, no wins in six (lost five), just one away point from a possible 36, no win on the road since 1 October and the second worst defensive record - the facts do not make for great reading.

Fears around The Hawthorns have only increased further after an aggregate 8-0 reverse in games against direct relegation rivals in recent weeks - the 5-0 home hammering by Norwich and 3-0 defeat at Portsmouth last time out.

Unless the Baggies can stem the flow, starting at home to Stoke on Saturday (kick-off 15:01 GMT), they will be on course for their worst season since 1999-2000 when they finished 21st in Division One (now the Championship).

Albion would probably take that right now. Otherwise only the third-ever season in the third tier may be on the horizon.

Who had Millwall's trip to Wrexham down as a vital encounter in the race for a Championship play-off place when this all started about six months ago?

If you did, well done.

All three sides relegated from the Premier League last season and the likes of Sheffield United, Coventry City and the aforementioned West Brom were among the favourites for promotion with the bookmakers before a ball was kicked.

Opta's supercomputer, external even had Wrexham down as the third most likely team to be relegated to League One following their historic three successive promotions from the National League.

But here we are with 16 games to play and it is sixth welcoming fifth at the Stok Cae Ras on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 15:01 GMT).

Both sides come into it in good nick with the Red Dragons the form side in the division, picking up more points (19) than any other team in the past eight games, while the Lions are fifth in the form table with 15 points in that time.

Millwall have not tasted top flight action since 1990 and Wrexham have never finished higher than 15th in the second tier, let alone ever reached the dizzy heights of the Premier League.

It should be a cracker in north Wales.

There might be no better example of how far the mighty can fall than Wigan Athletic right now.

The Latics spent eight years as an established Premier League side between 2005 and 2013 and won the FA Cup 13 years ago before reaching the semi-final the following season in 2014.

Since those glory years under Roberto Martinez, who led the Portugal national team to Nations League success last season, Wigan have been a yo-yo club between the Championship and League One.

But now they are facing the prospect of relegation and playing in the fourth tier for the first time in 29 years.

A run of six games without a win and just one victory in their past 10 has left Ryan Lowe's side 20th in League One, only above Rotherham in the drop zone on goal difference.

"Their performances haven't been great and like so many other teams, because they haven't been able to perform consistently, they have slid down the table," ex-Peterborough and Hull City striker Aaron McLean told BBC Sport.

"And all of a sudden, they've gone from being a team that could go either way and they've fallen towards relegation."

Peterborough away is the next test for Wigan on Saturday (kick-off 15:01 GMT).

Groundhog Day, anyone? Walsall fans have certainly seen this movie before and it didn't have a happy ending last time.

Saddlers supporters do not need reminding about last season's collapse when they were 12 points clear at the top, only to win just three of their final 21 games and slip into the play-offs before losing in the final to AFC Wimbledon.

But it might be happening again, albeit not quite on the same vast scale as 2024-25.

Walsall were top on Boxing Day and four points clear of fourth after a six-game unbeaten run.

Fast-forward six weeks and Mat Sadler's side have only won one of seven since then (D3 L3) and are now seventh, 10 points off leaders Bromley.

They are also without a win in four games after a 2-0 defeat at strugglers Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night and have recorded just two victories in 10 matches.

A home win over 11th-placed Barnet on Saturday for Walsall (15:01 GMT kick-off) might go some way to making sure 2025-26 eventually becomes a far more enjoyable sequel.

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