The Championship runners and riders in the battle for Premier League riches

The field may be spread out in the race for the Premier League with Manchester City having effectively lapped all challengers — Liverpool and Chelsea apart — but the same can’t be said for the Championship.

In the league where anyone can beat anyone on any given day, predicting which teams will join the cash-rich top flight feels as difficult to fathom as the Eurovision Song Contest.

When Fulham are good, they are very very good. In one crazy week last month they won three games by a total of 19-4 and other startling scores include wins by 7-0 at Blackburn, 5-1 at Huddersfield and 4-0 at Nottingham Forest.

Aleksandar Mitrovic has already hit an incredible 31 goals but Fulham are anything but a one-man team this season with 15 different goalscorers and boss Marco Silva’s attacking principles have proved a good fit for such a talented squad.

The aborted move of 19-year-old Fabio Carvalho to Liverpool is a blessing for a club who feel like champions-elect.

If there is any hope for the rest, it is the fact they don’t always win the close games — last Saturday’s 1-0 win at Hull was only their fourth single-goal success of the season.

If all but promotion feels unthinkable for Fulham, the repercussions could be even greater for Bournemouth after a January spending spree aided by the second year of parachute payments.

Scott Parker’s side soared to the top of the table with David Brooks pulling the strings before his cancer diagnosis.

Seven new faces arrived last month and while a broken foot which has ruled Kieffer Moore out for two months is cruel, his fellow forward Siriki Dembele, Liverpool defender Nat Phillips and Norwich midfielder Todd Cantwell — the last two on loan — have added to an already richly talented squad.

The 1-0 home