Tony Mowbray says the Championship's big guns are starting to make their presence felt - but outside the upper echelons the table is still difficult to read even as the season nears its halfway point. Going into this weekend, four of the top six spots were occupied by clubs who have recently played in the Premier League - and therefore benefit from parachute payments - with Burnley leading the way as they look to make an immediate return to the top flight.
Sheffield United, who were relegated the season before last, occupied the second automatic promotion spot, while Watford and Norwich City were in play-off positions as they battle to win promotion at the first attempt. But only nine points separate sixth-placed Norwich City and third-bottom Wigan Athletic in the relegation zone, while a gap of just six points stands between seventh-placed QPR and 17th-placed Stoke City.
For their part, Sunderland went into the weekend sitting in tenth place just a point outside the top six but knowing that this afternoon's games could mean they slip into lower midtable by the time they kick-off against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night. "What do I make of it [the table]?" said Mowbray.
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"It seems to me that the deepest squads, the quality, is starting to edge towards the top and yet they are not running away with it and opening huge gaps. The teams who have been in the Premier League and who have parachute payments are starting to come, I think.
"But I try not to look at it [the table] too hard, to be honest. I think it will sort itself out.
"I'd normally say to have a look at the league after ten or 12 games and you'd know where you think you're going to be, but that is obviously not the case now. We're 21 games in and you can still be looking over your shoulder if you lose a game or two, and then if you win one then you're thinking that if you win the next one then the top six is really attainable.
"Let's just play the games."
Mowbray has been hugely encouraged by Sunderland's performances and results in the first half of the campaign, particularly given the fact that he has had to cope with a lengthy injury list which left him without a centre-forward for six weeks when both Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms were out of action. Simms is now back in the side and scoring goals while Stewart is expected to return to the squad for the first time against West Brom.
And with those players available again, along with the likes of Lynden Gooch, Dennis Cirkin, Aji Alese who have all recently made their comebacks, and with Dan Ballard also nearing a return, Mowbray is optimistic about the remainder of the season. He said: "For us, we have to keep on developing what we are doing and improving the individual players, keep the collective strong and believing and working hard as the team potentially changes from week to week based on what we need against different opponents.
"In an ideal world, if we can keep the majority of the squad fit, I think we should enjoy the second half of the season but there are no guarantees of course because if you lose a few games, confidence can get affected. There are no easy games in this league, you have to earn the right to take three points.
"Let's believe we can compete against anybody in the division - I think we've shown that. Even though we lost four goals in the second half at home against Burnley, for the first 45 minutes we showed that we could beat the best team in the league.
"Let's keep believing."
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