/ Andrew French / 24 April 2008 /

The race for the automatic promotion and play-off places in the Championship is really hotting up. Andrew French looks at a resurgent Crystal Palace who face high-flying Hull City. He also has an eye on the relegation scrap.

He may still have a fair bit of work to do in order to secure a return to the Premiership, but I believe Neil Warnock will certainly guide Crystal Palace into the play-offs: and that is some achievement.

Love him or loathe him, you can't deny Warnock has worked wonders at Selhurst Park. Palace were looking relegation fodder when he joined, and yet last weekend's victory at Watford leaves them within touching distance of confirming a play-off berth.

This week they face another massive test, away to a Hull City side that need the points in their bid to go up automatically. However, I think Warnock's side can take a share of the spoils from Boothferry Park, such is their current form and confidence.

Palace are now unbeaten in 10 games and have conceded only one goal in their last four outings. Warnock has given his youngsters their chance, and their enthusiasm and lack of fear is paying dividends.

There is no denying the tremendous achievement of Phil Brown and his Hull team, and if they don't go up by rights, they will be a fearsome obstacle to the other three teams involved in the play-offs. The Tigers have just stuttered a little of late though, perhaps finally feeling the glare of the spotlight after charging up the table largely unnoticed.

They were beaten at Sheffield United on Saturday, with the home side reduced to 10 men before half-time, and their last home game saw them require a late equaliser to earn a point against QPR.

Warnock will know a point at Hull will be far from a disappointment, and so I'm going with the draw at [3.45].

The side that would most benefit from a stalemate between Hull and Palace is second-placed Stoke, as that would mean victory against bottom club Colchester this weekend would see them secure the other automatic promotion place.

Stoke's progress has been anything but smooth over the last few weeks, but the victory over Bristol City at the weekend was priceless and gave them back-to-back wins for the first time in two months.

Even allowing for Stoke being nervous, Colchester being relaxed with nothing to play for now relegations is confirmed, and unexpected freak results, it is very hard indeed to see beyond Stoke winning at Layer Road.

The 5-1 drubbing that relegation-threatened Coventry administered at Colchester last week is all the evidence you need really.

The U's even had the benefit of being a goal up inside 20 minutes, but Coventry's romp from there merely served to underline why Colchester have the worst defensive record and the worst home record in the Championship.

Stoke badly need the points - back them at [1.66] to take all three.

There's a huge game at the heart of the scrap to avoid filling the final relegation spot at the Walkers Stadium as Leicester (20th) host Sheffield Wednesday (22nd).

Depending on how you look at it, either Wednesday have lost just once in eight games, or, they are winless in eight games. To my mind, they'll have to go for broke this weekend as a draw will be more useful to Leicester.

The Foxes are showing signs that the alarm bells have finally sounded as they have taken seven points from their last four games and dug deep for a 1-0 win at Barnsley last weekend.

I think they'll squeeze past the Owls and secure their safety in the process, so I'll be backing them at [2.28].

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