Debated heavily throughout social networks as of late with only ten games remaining is who will be the next winners of the Championship.

Derby County were tipped to be champions throughout the season, however they now face a battle for the top-spot in the division.

The top 4 teams, AFC Bournemouth, Derby, Watford and Middlesbrough all find themselves on 66 points. Every game is crucial for these top teams and every point counts.

Points have been dropped by Derby in some 'must win games' against teams such as Rotherham, Fulham, Brighton and Birmingham most recently.

The Rams were very close to taking all three points until Birmingham mounted the comeback thanks to a Caddis penalty in the 93rd minute, after Tom Ince conceded a very debatable foul on Robert Tesche.

Swiftly after this in the 96th minute, Wes Thomas whipped the ball into a powerful Clayton Donaldson who put away a scrappy goal. Gary Rowett said to Sky Sports: "Whether we deserved it or not is not really relevant. The fact is we've kept going and kept believing and trying to get something out of the game."

Which is completely true. In the dying embers of the game, Birmingham did not give up the fight and showed great determination to salvage a point out of what seemed to be a dead cause.

Derby may be kicking themselves as they are looking ahead to a strenuous fixture list. Their last 10 games are against Norwich (A), Middlesbrough (H), Wolves (A), Watford (H), Wigan (A), Brentford (H), Blackpool (H), Huddersfield (A), Millwall (A) and finally Reading (H).

In the next four games, Derby face the teams from third to fifth, which offers them a great opportunity to leapfrog the Rams and stake their claim for the chances of automatic promotion.

However, although the Rams have a tough up coming fixture list, the fans will be elated to hear that Chris Martin and Darren Bent will both be likely to be fit for their clash against Norwich City next weekend.

The return of Martin and Bent will be a massive boost in the Rams camp and hopefully help them kick on and work hard to achieve automatic promotion. All teams will be out to get the top four teams, they are the teams to beat. Giant killing is definitely going to be a threat to any team vying for an automatic promotion place.

The club plagued by injuries are trying to achieve their goal set out at the beginning of the campaign which was promotion.

The absence of a proven striker has been costly for the club, after key striker Chris Martin was left out for 2-3 weeks following a tendon injury and the injury of backup striker Darren Bent has been proven costly.

As in the past six games the Rams have managed to pick up a pitiful eight points out of a possible 18.

However, the winger Johnny Russell has been filling in at striker, as he has experience from when he was playing for his Dundee United outfit before arriving at the iPro stadium in 2013.

The other injuries are that to George Thorne, a commanding holding midfielder who signed for Derby on a permanent basis from West Bromwich Albion for £2 milliom.

He has been set back once more with a thigh strain, which is common after coming back from a long term injury he sustained in pre-season.

Thorne, 22, said to the Derby Telegraph: "The support from the fans, staff and owners was outstanding. I am looking to repay that" with the remaining 13 games of the season, but not just that, but the rest of my future at Derby County" the midfield is evidently eager to get out there and aid the Rams in their push for promotion.

In addition, as many followers of the Championships top teams will know that as of late, nobody appears to really want to win the league.

Teams are throwing away many points that need to be picked up. Bournemouth are definite suspects as their spell last month where The Cherries managed to pick up only six points from a possible 18.

Where the one win came from a 3-1 win to an inadequate Wigan side. Derby County are also equally as guilty, having only picked up 11 points from 18 that were there for the taking.

These points included a scrappy draw against Rotherham and a rather pathetic 2-0 loss to Fulham. Moreover, Karanka and his Middlesbrough team had a very up and down February which was home to three wins, one draw and two losses.

The losses were to a mediocre Sheffield Wednesday side and also to Leeds. This meant that Middlesbrough took 1o points from 16 that were available for them. However, in defense of The Boro, they did have a rather packed schedule as they faced Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round.

On the other hand, Watford had an almost flawless February campaign, which leaves them in great form and the team to beat at the moment.

Their momentum could prove deadly against many teams. The picked up 15 points from an amount of 18 up for grabs, and their only loss coming against Norwich, who are also in phenomenal form. The Canaries boss Alex Neil has also picked up Championship manager of the month as a result of his teams fine form and his outstanding management.

I can see from now, that the end will be a nail biting finish which will keep every football fan on the edge of their seats.

The promoted teams will be interesting to watch in the Premier League. All of the top four teams are looking for a return to the Premier League that will be sweeter than their last memories.

Especially Derby, who will be itching to prove that the calamitous 11 points was not their entire worth. However, I believe that the Rams will either realise the importance of these fixtures and knuckle down, or continue to coast along and settle for poorer results which Steve McClaren has acknowledged and has said need to be changed.

It is really time for the players to buckle down and get the football they know the team is capable of, and capitalise if they want to kick on and be crowned champions.

However, from my perspective, I can see a top two finish alone being a big ask for the Rams, and a Play-Off test will be needed once more and is the most likely scenario.

Learning from mistakes, they will know how crucial it is to take chances in a titanic game such as the Play-Off Final.

QPR were extremely lucky, however, Zamora was presented the chance and took it. Which is what Derby should be looking to do from now on, finish as efficiently as possible and become less wasteful.