Blades drop to 21st

It may be relatively early into the campaign, but Sheffield United are in a relegation dogfight at the moment, and our plight continued when we plummeted further down the table after a win for Middlesbrough away at Scunthorpe, a draw for 10-man Hull at Leeds, and a win for Crystal Palace sent the Blades tumbling down the league standings.

It's quite embarrassing that we're writing about a relegation battle at this stage of the season. That embarrassment will most definitely turn to anxiety and deep, deep concern if we're in the same position in the new year and as we head towards April.

Tonight (Tuesday) saw nine npower Championship games take place. Here are the results from all of the games:

Burnley 1:1 Doncaster

Crystal Palace 3:2 Watford

Ipswich 0:2 Derby

Leeds 2:2 Hull

Millwall 1:1 Norwich

Nottingham Forest 2:1 Coventry

Portsmouth 1:1 QPR

Preston 1:2 Barnsley

Scunthorpe 0:2 Middlesbrough

And, the table currently stands:

Latest match Tuesday, 9th November 2010 Pld Home Away Overall Pts EP W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A 1 Queens Park Rangers 16 5 3 0 16 2 4 4 0 14 5 9 7 0 30 7 34 +23 2 Cardiff City 15 5 2 1 15 6 5 0 2 13 7 10 2 3 28 13 32 +15 3 Swansea City 15 5 2 0 11 1 4 0 4 10 11 9 2 4 21 12 29 +9 4 Derby County 16 5 1 2 20 7 3 2 3 9 10 8 3 5 29 17 27 +12 5 Norwich City 16 4 1 3 14 13 3 3 2 9 8 7 4 5 23 21 25 +2 6 Coventry City 16 4 1 3 14 10 3 2 3 10 11 7 3 6 24 21 24 +3 7 Ipswich Town 16 4 1 3 10 9 3 2 3 9 9 7 3 6 19 18 24 +1 8 Leeds United 16 3 1 4 14 18 4 2 2 14 12 7 3 6 28 30 24 -2 9 Burnley 16 5 2 1 16 8 0 6 2 9 11 5 8 3 25 19 23 +6 10 Nottingham Forest 16 4 4 0 12 6 1 4 3 7 10 5 8 3 19 16 23 +3 11 Doncaster Rovers 16 4 3 1 14 8 2 2 4 12 17 6 5 5 26 25 23 +1 12 Reading 15 4 1 2 13 7 2 3 3 10 10 6 4 5 23 17 22 +6 13 Watford 15 2 3 3 12 13 4 1 2 15 10 6 4 5 27 23 22 +4 14 Portsmouth 16 4 3 1 16 9 2 1 5 6 13 6 4 6 22 22 22 0 15 Millwall 16 3 3 2 12 10 2 2 4 8 10 5 5 6 20 20 20 0 16 Scunthorpe United 16 1 2 5 6 13 5 0 3 13 10 6 2 8 19 23 20 -4 17 Barnsley 16 4 2 2 14 9 1 2 5 6 19 5 4 7 20 28 19 -8 18 Leicester City 15 3 2 2 8 7 2 1 5 11 20 5 3 7 19 27 18 -8 19 Middlesbrough 16 4 1 3 13 12 1 1 6 4 13 5 2 9 17 25 17 -8 20 Hull City 16 2 3 3 5 4 1 3 4 7 17 3 6 7 12 21 15 -9 21 Sheffield United 15 2 1 5 6 14 2 2 3 4 6 4 3 8 10 20 15 -10 22 Bristol City 15 1 3 4 7 15 2 2 3 8 10 3 5 7 15 25 14 -10 23 Preston North End 16 2 1 5 10 14 2 1 5 12 19 4 2 10 22 33 14 -11 24 Crystal Palace 15 2 1 4 9 11 1 1 6 6 19 3 2 10 15 30 11 -15

Colour key   League Champions   Relegation place(s)   Team(s) to be transferred   Promotion place(s)   Play-off place(s)   Team(s) set to merge

Position ordering Teams level on both goal difference and goals scored are initially ordered according to the results of any matches played between one another.

Nothing less than three points on Wednesday night is good enough really. Okay, Leicester is a tough place to go, but a loss or a draw keeps us in the mess. A win does too, but we can build on it!

Come on Blades!

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