This Weekend, Burnley, Middlesbrough and Brighton Fight for Championship Supremacy

When the football season reaches its conclusion, it is often said that the Championship is the place to go for genuine competition. After all, the Premier League is controlled by a small cabal of hideously wealthy super-clubs, with nobody able to break their cycle of dominance. The second tier, however, is legitimately unpredictable.

That this has been blown apart by Leicester City's once-in-a-generation run to the title is fantastic news, unless of course you're trying to write an introduction to a piece previewing the end of the Championship season. Sure, it's great that we've witnessed the biggest upset in the history of the English game and seen the expensively assembled sides collapse, but how do you build up to the end of the second-tier campaign?

Fortunately, it remains true that the Championship is a fiercely competitive league, a mix of fallen giants trapped in Channel 5 highlights purgatory and small-town clubs who punch above their weight. Heading into the final day three sides could yet claim the title, with Burnley, Middlesbrough and Brighton & Hove Albion all in contention to be crowned champions. The Clarets have already secured a spot in the Premier League next term, but Boro and Brighton are still battling to join them in the automatic promotion spots. And, thanks to a wonderfully prescient decision by the all-knowing fixture computer, the latter two will play each other on the final day.

This is essentially the only game with anything of consequence riding on it. The relegation spots have long been settled: former Premier League stalwarts Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic have slipped to the third tier, with the decidedly less storied MK Dons joining them. The playoffs are a done deal as well, with Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Hull City all assured their spots, and either Brighton or Boro set to join them. Derby could leapfrog Hull and take fourth, though this would only assure them home advantage for the second leg.

No such stresses for Burnley. Though they could be overhauled by either Brighton or Boro on Saturday, their two-point advantage at the top means they will finish second at worst. Premier League, here we come – again.

Relegated from the top flight last year after a reasonable fight against the drop, Burnley's 2015-16 season has been a textbook post-relegation display. Sean Dyche was retained as boss, they've hung on to the majority of last year's squad, and the newcomers have been excellent.

Of the 11 players who have spent most time on the pitch for Burnley this season eight were playing for them last term, while record signing Andre Gray cost £6million but has repaid that investment with 24 league goals. Gray was named Championship player of the season and included in the Football League XI; the other Burnley player in that squad is Joey Barton, who signed on a free and has also proven an excellent addition.

Dyche's side have been in the hunt throughout the campaign, never losing two on the spin and suffering their only real wobble during the hectic December schedule. Since Christmas they've really excelled: after going down 3-0 to erstwhile automatic promotion rivals Hull City on Boxing Day, the Clarets have not lost again in the league. Their record since that Steve Bruce-induced wobble has been 15 wins and seven draws.

It breathes new life into Dyche's "Ginger Mourinho" nickname – remember that Chelsea were trounced by Spurs on Boxing Day 2014, then embarked on a run of narrow victories and draws that secured them the Premier League title. Spooky, no?

What of the man set to lead Burnley back to the top flight? Resembling a former police officer striding into an IPCC misconduct hearing, his claret and blue tie flapping menacingly in the wind, Dyche is on the verge of securing Burnley's second promotion to the Premier League in two years. Like the club and the town they hail from he is not glamorous, but he does possess a quality that is highly revered in English football: Dyche is "effective". Some square pegs, a few round holes, with Dyche using the former to hammer guys like Barton and Ben Mee into the latter.

He may not be glamorous, but 44-year-old Dyche is one of a very small number of young English managers who have consistently achieved success in recent years. There is some talk that he could be tempted away by a more established Premier League side this summer, but you sense he is too British for that. Appropriately, his team almost entirely bereft of overseas players; in a real sense, there will be no truer representation of British football in the Premier League next term.

Middlesbrough are favourites to go up with Burnley, holding home advantage for their final game against Brighton and a crucial two-goal advantage over the south-coast club. This means that Boro can afford to draw on Saturday and still be promoted, while the Seaguls know they must win.

Boro's 2015-16 campaign has been a strange one. Last season's losing playoff finalists, they were odds-on favourites to win the Championship this time around.

And they might well do so – this would require a win over Brighton and a Burnley defeat at relegated Charlton – but it has not been the swagger to top spot that many predicted. At times that has looked possible, only for Boro to wobble their way through a bad run that threatens to destabilise the whole campaign. And then back to winning ways.

In December, Middlesbrough prevailed 3-0 against Brighton at the Amex Stadium to end their rivals' unbeaten run and seize the advantage in the promotion race. Three successive wins followed and Boro looked certs for the Premier League.

But as 2016 unfolded things seemed to fall apart. A 1-0 defeat to Bristol City began a run of five without a win. In March there were defeats to Rotherham and Charlton, both in the relegation places at the time. Finally, after seeming to sort their shit out for good with a six-game winning streak, they've drawn the past three. A win amongst that trio would have been enough to return to the Premier League.

It all adds up to a team you can't feel at all convinced about, even if they are capable of being the league's best on their day. It is entirely conceivable that they will blow Brighton away on Saturday, and yet you feel a collapse is equally possible.

None of this has been helped by an unstable managerial situation. Mourinho disciple Aitor Karanka fell out with the board in March and was replaced for the next game by his assistant, Steve Agnew. It seemed unlikely club and manager would be able to reconcile, but the Spaniard was back at work soon after and Boro have not lost since. It does lead to questions over their long-term suitability, however, and adds to the club's hard-to-define status.

While Boro have been difficult to predict, Brighton's campaign can be split into three neat sections: a strong start, a worrying mid-season dip, and finally a blistering finish. They began by going unbeaten until December 19th – making them the last team in England to lose this season – but when they finally did taste defeat the wheels seemed to come off. Boro beat them 3-0 to end that run, after which they drew with Brentford before losing three on the spin.

This felt like a return to the natural order, but Brighton's form since has been among the best in the division, winning 13, drawing five and losing only one of their past 19 matches.

Perhaps the most improbable aspect of Brighton's highly improbable automatic promotion push is the presence of Chris Hughton. An actual Marxist who once wrote a regular football column in Newsline, a Trotskyist paper produced by the Workers Revolutionary party, few managers in the English game can be as well liked as Hughton That said, few expected much of him at the Amex after a forgettable spell at Norwich City, making his achievements at Brighton – top-two finish or not – genuinely remarkable.

Named Seaguls boss on 31 December 2014, Hughton took over a club sitting 21st in the Championship, one spot above the relegation zone; less than 18 months later – and without spending huge sums of cash – he has them on the verge of the Premier League, and guaranteed their highest finish in 33 years. If nothing else, that should cancel out his decision to spend £10m to take Ricky van Wolfswinkel to Carrow Road.

You can't really call it a fairytale, because Leicester City have a monopoly on that term in 2016. And anyway, fairytales are often macabre and unsettling, offering only a qualified happy ending; Chris Hughton leading Brighton & Hove Albion into the Premier League would just be a nice story.

On Saturday they'll need to beat Boro if they're to secure promotion; if Burnley drop points at the Valley, Hughton might even find himself with a title-winners medal hung around his neck.

The fact that Charlton are already down, not to mention gripped by fan unrest, suggests that Burnley will have enough to secure three points and the title. Either way, we'll be seeing them in the top flight next term.

The game at the Riverside is by far the most intriguing proposition. Boro know a draw will send them up, a situation that is equal parts comfortable and dangerous. Brighton meanwhile know that only victory will spare them the perils of the playoffs, which may offer more motivation.

Winning the title is of course secondary to the ultimate goal of being promoted. Then again, all three could look at taking top spot as a positive omen: it certainly led to bigger things for 2013-14 Championship title-winners Leicester City.