Welcome to February - Can Albion's rivals use their extra fixtures to catch up?

Welcome to February. What a relief to have made it through January without losing anyone. Off the pitch, it was an incredibly nervous time for Albion - constant rumours about Elliott Bennett, Glenn Murray, and Inigo Calderon moving to various Championship clubs. But these rumours didn’t seem to have any impact on the pitch, as the Seagulls glided through January with only the Cherries preventing a 100% record for 2011 so far.

February will finish with Albion having several games in hand over rivals. Southampton and Huddersfield have six games this month, and Bournemouth have seven compared to Albion’s five. So it’s a big opportunity for the sides below to take advantage, and really put pressure on Gus Poyet’s team to perform in a crucial March.

THIS IS HOW THE LEAGUE ONE TABLE LOOKS NOW:

                                       PLAYED         PTS    
BRIGHTON                           25            49       
BOURNEMOUTH                 27            46       
HUDDERSFIELD                  26            43       
SOUTHAMPTON                  25            41
OLDHAM                               26            40   
MK DONS                              27            40       
PETERBOROUGH                25            39

THIS IS HOW THE TABLE WILL LOOK ON FEB 28th BASED ON CURRENT FORM, LIKELY RESULTS, AND IF NO TEAM HAS A BRILLIANT RUN:       
 
                                       PLAYED    PTS  

BRIGHTON                     30            60
BOURNEMOUTH          34             59
SOUTHAMPTON            31            53
HUDDERSFIELD            32            53
PETERBOROUGH          32            52
OLDHAM                         33            51
MK DONS                        34            51

Of course, it is ridiculous to predict what is going to happen, because there have been so many crazy results this season. But if Albion get to March with 60 points, top of the table with 4 games in hand over Bournemouth, Gus Poyet will be extremely happy.

For Albion to lose their great position, it will take either a huge collapse, or one or two of their rivals having brilliant runs. So far this season, no team apart from Albion have shown the form to suggest they will be in the Championship next season.

If none of their rivals have a run of form in February, Albion can be quietly confident of competing in the second tier of English football next season.