While the Premier League title and Top Four race looks pretty exciting this year, spare a thought for the second tier.
Hull City and Chris Hughton's Brighton head the table on 35 points after 17 games. Yet Birmingham City, the team that holds the last playoff place are only seven points behind, while the three teams from third to fifth are all on 33 points.
Tight is probably a great word for that but when it comes to getting out of the division, former Ireland defender Hughton knows what it takes having guided Newcastle back to the promised land in the 2009-10 season.
Tonight, the ex-Birmingham City and Norwich boss joins us on Off The Ball to talk about a successful season so far.
And efficiency is a watch-word in some instances for his Brighton team when you look at their Championship statistics for the campaign.
Despite being joint-top on points, when it comes to goals scored, they are only the 12th most prolific team in the division with 22 goals, with Tomer Hemed their top scorer with five.
Only three of the clubs goals have come from set pieces though and they are among the top five sides for average possession - although that rate only stands at about 51-52 per cent.
Defensively is where they are truly imposing, conceding just 13 times in 17 matches, which is the fourth best record in the Championship.
They are also second best in the division for the amount of shots they have allowed on goal with an average of 10.6 per game, bested only by Reading.
That solidity rings true of his Newcastle side from 2009-10, which had the best defensive record in the Championship that season.
The Norwich side he managed in 2012-13 was not goal-heavy, with the third-worst record in the Premier League but it was their generally reasonable defensive record (bar some humblings at the bigger sides) and a shots-allowed rate which ranked the Canaries 10th in the Premier League that helped them to 11th place that season.
So Hughton knows the template which has worked for him in the past and he'll be hoping that it carries Brighton into that lucrative promised land next summer.
All stats from Squawka.com and WhoScored.com
