A win over Ipswich Town on Tuesday evening could lift the Bluebirds above next Saturday's opponents, Leicester City into fifth place.

Last weekend's victory over Middlesbrough came in conjunction with the majority of other play-off contenders dropping points. Mark Denham casts an eye over this week's midweek games to see how the table could change ahead of next weekend.

Opportunity for the Baggies

With leaders Newcastle United and second place Nottingham Forest not in action until Saturday, Roberto Di Matteo's West Bromwich Albion can gain ground on the top-two when Sheffield Wednesday visit the Hawthorns on Tuesday.

Albion slipped to third following last weekend's surprise 3-1 defeat at struggling Queens Park Rangers. Nottingham Forest are the current incumbents of the second automatic promotion place, but having played a game more than the Baggies, could relinquish that position if Albion beat relegation threatened Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday. The Owls are currently twenty-second in the Championship, but last weekend's impressive 2-0 win over promotion chasing Leicester City should see them brimming with confidence.

CITY WATCH: Defeat for West Brom could see Cardiff cut the gap between the two sides to eight points. A win for the Baggies could pull them as many as ten points clear of fourth.

Quiet at the top

Aside from West Brom and the Bluebirds, only two other top-ten sides are competing in midweek action. The first of those are fourth place Swansea City who travel to struggling Watford on Tuesday evening, looking to banish Saturday's injury time defeat at Nottingham Forest from memory.

Defeat at the City Ground last weekend was Swansea's first league loss of 2010 - an amazing statistic for Paolo Sousa's side. But succumbing to the late pressure of their promotion rivals would have been a bitter pill for the Swans to swallow on Saturday. Watford will hope to capitalise on this disappointment as they seek to put back-to-back defeats against Newcastle and at Derby behind them.

Ninth place Sheffield United tasted defeat at Crystal Palace last weekend, missing out on the opportunity of holding on to seventh place and keeping the pressure right on the Bluebirds. Tonight they travel to bottom side Peterborough United where they are expected to win - indeed they have to win if they are to keep the pressure on the top-six. Barring late season miracles, Peterborough can expect to be plying their trade in League One next season. The Posh have had a miserable season back in the Championship and have now lost eight of their ten league fixtures in 2010.

CITY WATCH: City can move to just a point behind Swansea with a game in hand should they win and the Swans lose. The Blades could move back to within a point of sixth spot by winning at London Road.

Looking to contend

Outside of the top-ten, twelfth place Doncaster Rovers are the highest placed side competing in midweek after they beat Bristol City 5-2 at Ashton Gate on Saturday. Rovers travel to Preston North End who sit just a point and a place behind them in thirteenth after drawing at Plymouth Argyle.

Derby County can climb to eleventh with a win over eighteenth place Reading - a relatively lofty position and one they haven't been as high as since early September. The Rams could then be just seven points short of sixth place Cardiff ahead of next weekend's fixtures, pencilling themselves in as late play-off pushers. Reading meanwhile are just a point outside of the relegation zone and need to find some consistency if they are to avoid late season jitters.

CITY WATCH: Doncaster are the side closest to challenging the Bluebirds' sixth place spot, though Preston and Derby are no strangers to challenging for the play-offs and have City and those around them in sight.

Another season in the Championship? Or worse?

Quality and form suggests that Crystal Palace will escape the relegation mire come May, their position largely acknowledged as being through misfortune rather than a lack of talent. But the reality is that they sit just a place outside of the relegation zone ahead of Tuesday evening's home game with Bristol City, despite Saturday's impressive 1-0 victory over Sheffield United.

The Robins meanwhile could see their season go one of two ways. Currently occupying fifteenth spot, Gary Johnson's men are just five points outside of the bottom three but then only ten points off the top-six. Their form during the second half of the season would imply that they're more likely to be digging their heels in for a scrap rather than booking their buses to Wembley; but out of all the teams currently not occupying a top-six place, Bristol City are one of the most experienced sides when it comes to making a late season push.

Much was expected of Queens Park Rangers this season but they have delivered very little. The Super Hoops are sixteenth in the division and just three points clear of the drop-zone, but with new boss Neil Warnock accustomed to his sides challenging at the right end of the Championship table, late season strides towards the top-six cannot be ruled out.

The same can't be said of Rangers' Tuesday night opponents Plymouth Argyle however. The Pilgrims find themselves in limbo with only thirteen Championship games left to play; although they are six points ahead of bottom club Peterborough, they remain seven behind third from bottom Sheffield Wednesday. It appears to be a very uncomfortable position to be in and with no form to talk of, the Devonshire side seem destined for a place in League One next year without a dramatic change in fortune.

CITY WATCH: Palace have the quality, Bristol have the experience, Rangers have the manager. Can any of them seriously mount a late season play-off challenge from their mid-table berths? It's probably unlikely, but with the league so tight, nothing can be ruled out.