Highly unlikely late push or mid-table stumble - West Brom's season finale

That is a long shot at this stage given play-offs are out of the question - not quite mathematically, but to anybody with a semblance of sense.

The Baggies' crunch-time collapse cost head coach Tony Mowbray his job on Easter Monday and has seen the side tumble down to 10th having so recently been very much part of the top six, or at least in the conversation.

With six points left to play for ahead of fixtures against relegation-battling Cardiff and Luton there are still potential shifts.

Though even the most optimistic, glass-half-full Baggie would be reluctant to get excited.

A return of maximum points would require two things Albion - under both Carlos Corberan and Mowbray - have struggled to do all season.

One is win away from home - which has been managed just once since September. The other is win successive games - which has not been managed since September.

So the prospect of six points against the Bluebirds and the Hatters, both of whom are scrapping for their second-tier status, feels very unlikely on evidence.

Coventry, currently sixth and six points above the Baggies, may be out of reach but Middlesbrough in seventh are just three points away.

Albion's more realistic target must be to record what they can and restore some respectability to the end of the campaign. Interim boss James Morrison, supported by Damia Abella and Boaz Myhill, will be keen to do so.

The Baggies' caretaker stint earlier in the season - led by Chris Brunt as opposed to current first-team coach Morrison - brought six points from a possible 15 around the turn of the year.

Boro, as well as Millwall and Blackburn, will feel they have a more realistic shot at gate-crashing the top six at the 11th hour, especially given Boro and Coventry do battle at the CBS Arena on a dramatic final day on Saturday week.

But Albion can still harbour hopes of reeling either or more of the trio in. They will certainly want to improve on the current standing of 10th rather than slide any further.

A glance at the Championship table suggests anywhere as low as Sheffield Wednesday in 13th - four points south of Albion - could overhaul Morrison's troops.

That is not the case, however, and Albion's place in the top half is all-but secured because both the Owls and Watford can only accrue four points as they face one another, and both have significantly poorer goal differences than the Baggies with a 15-goal swing unrealistic.

In-form Swansea, in 11th, are level on 60 points with Albion and will eye a surge into the top 10. Caretaker boss Alan Sheehan, the former Leeds and Luton full-back, has enjoyed a five-match winning streak.

One of Wednesday or Watford can climb above Albion if the Baggies' woeful form continues in Cardiff on Saturday and at home to Luton on the final day.