19th and 17th will meet in the Championship this week with Cardiff City aiming to rocket themselves further away from the drop zone after a midweek win just as Stoke City look to move closer to the top half.
Cardiff are still well in with a chance of dropping into the bottom three in these final few games of the season, but after securing a fantastic 3-1 win over Watford, the South Wales outfit have now moved clear of the bottom three by two points. Kion Etete, Cedric Kipre and Sory Kaba all scored that day to move Cardiff out of the relegation spots for the time being at the very least.
At the same time, the club have a game in hand to work with over sides below them in the table which could now move them to five points clear. That game in hand is set to be played away at Rotherham United on Thursday, and if Cardiff can win these next two games across the forthcoming five days, they should be safe.
However, they do have a bottom-five battle against Huddersfield Town to come and a trip to the champions Burnley on the last day of the season.
The recent win for Cardiff also ended a two-game losing run after falling to defeats against Sunderland and Sheffield United that has seen them concede five goals and score just once. The club did, however, defeat Blackpool 3-1 in a huge relegation clash.
As for Stoke, although they can be mathematically pulled into the drop zone still, it is extremely doubtful given they are nine points clear of the bottom three and how there is only nine points left on the table.
At the same time, the Potters have a +4 goals difference compared to the likes of Reading who have -19 and QPR who have -27. When all is considered, Stoke are basically safe, but they will still count this season as a poor one.
