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Monday night's 8.01pm kick-off in the Championship will be of particular interest to league leaders Coventry City.
Frank Lampard has seen his team's lead at the top of the division dwindle away, taking with it their strong position in the battle for automatic promotion to the Premier League.
What's gone wrong for Coventry City?
Coventry were unbeaten in the league this season until the last day of October, when a loss at Wrexham demonstrated their fallibility. They won the next five league games but they certainly haven't had it all their own way since then.
The 13 matches played in the Championship since the start of December have been more than unlucky for the West Midlands side, who have won four and lost five in that period.
Seven of their last 13 matches have been played away from the Coventry Building Society Arena, accounting for four of those five losses. The defeat to Ipswich Town remains the only time Coventry have been beaten at home all season in any competition.
What matters most, though, is that the Sky Blues are winless in three and have been reeled in by Middlesbrough, thanks in no small part to the Tractor Boys and their two wins over Lampard's team to drag themselves to within five points.
While the rate at which Coventry have been caught is striking, and some of their recent results warrant the closer scrutiny Lampard and his staff will be giving them, it shouldn't be ignored that they're still top of the league for now and will end the current programme of fixtures in an automatic promotion spot.
Clearly, though, their form has been sliding and one of the reasons for that is, in FourFourTwo's opinion, that leading from the front for such a long period of time is its own kind of challenge when the team in question isn't some kind of second-tier powerhouse.
Coventry are on track. The problem isn't that they've lost their way, just that they need to make sure the recent setbacks don't cause that to happen.
One of the consequences of fighting tooth and nail is that it has an effect on the availability of players.
Coventry have lost several players to suspension in 2025-26 including defenders Milan van Ewijk, whose absence was keenly felt in that Halloween loss at Wrexham, and straight red card recipients Jay DaSilva and Bobby Thomas.
Joint-top scorer Brandon Thomas-Asante is currently serving a retrospective three-match ban for his own transgression, an initially unpunished incidence of violent conduct in Coventry's loss at Norwich City last month.
Injuries haven't helped, but then they never do.
Why there's still cause for optimism
Coventry could easily lose top spot on Monday evening but they're in an automatic promotion place and have recent experience of turning in an exceptional run of form in the second half of the season.
Lampard was appointed in the autumn of 2024. While he made a good start, you wouldn't say he got off to a flyer. The thrust that pushed them to the play-offs was a run of nine wins in 10 matches in the first couple of months of 2025.
The loss in the middle, at home to Leeds United, was followed by five wins on a bounce that began at exactly this time last year.
Coventry have remained strong at home despite a frustrating draw with Oxford United on Saturday, and eight of their 15 league fixtures to come will be played in front of their own fans and with new signings Romain Esse, Frank Onyeka and Jahnoah Markelo available.
The Sky Blues have already played away at Middlesbrough, Ipswich, Hull City, Millwall and Wrexham – the rest of the top six – as well as Preston North End in seventh.
Middlesbrough's next Championship game is a Monday night away from home too. Their visit to Coventry in one week's time will be a chance for Lampard's team to prove themselves all over again. The atmosphere is sure to be electric.
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