Who are the Championship promotion candidates?

Eddie Howe's side have impressed so far this season

The Championship promotion fight is extremely tight once again this season with just two points separating the top five after 19 games. Alex Johnson looks and the runners and riders.

Wolves, in 12th spot, are only four points away from a play-off place, while the likes of Brentford and Bournemouth are surprising many people with their push for a place in the Premier League.

As the season approaches the halfway point, more than half of the Championship teams could still have a say in the promotion picture, but here are the ten sides that look set to have the most say in the race for a top-flight place in the second half of the season.

Derby County

Steve McClaren's side have done extremely well to recover from the disappointment of their play-off final defeat to QPR six months ago to lead the table.

Saturday's defeat at Leeds United was only their fourth loss of the campaign and they look to have a well-balanced squad.

Scotland international Chris Martin has already scored 12 goals and the Rams have the second best scoring record in the division and the third best defence.

They seem well-equipped to seal an automatic promotion place this season.

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Middlesbrough

This is Boro's sixth season in the Championship but Aitor Karanka appears to have built a squad that will finally be strong enough to go up to the Premier League.

Former Sunderland and Ipswich Town midfielder Grand Leadbitter already has nine Championship goals to his name and the Teessiders are particularly adept at picking up points away from the Riverside Stadium - they have already won five games on the road this term.

They have enough talent to finish as runners-up to Derby this term.

Bournemouth

The Cherries are playing a bright style of football under Eddie Howe and, despite being in the fourth tier of English football and being close to bankruptcy recently, they are battling to secure a third promotion in six seasons.

They made national headlines when thrashing Birmingham City 8-0 at St Andrew's in October and have not fallen away since that fantastic result.

That is no surprise though as they have a host of top-quality players in their squad including Dan Gosling, Andrew Surman, Artur Boruc, Callum Wilson and Brett Pitman.

They could snatch a place in the play-offs and, after that, who knows?

Norwich City

After suffering relegation from the Premier League last term, the Canaries made a brilliant start to life back in the Championship, taking 20 points from their first nine matches.

However, Saturday's home defeat to Reading means they have taken only one point from their four matches in November, with the 4-0 drubbing at Middlesbrough seeming to drain them of confidence.

Neil Adams' side have won only one of their last ten matches and are now 11th in the table, but it remains a squad packed full of fine players like Cameron Jerome, Wes Hoolahan, John Ruddy and Michael Turner, which should be good enough to get over their current poor run and secure a top-six place.

Ipswich Town

Mick McCarthy has put together a high-quality squad on a shoestring at Portman Road and, although they may currently be over-achieving in second spot, they have built the foundations that should secure a play-off place.

Their home form has been excellent - Town have picked up 20 points from their nine matches in Suffolk - and they are unbeaten in their last six matches following Saturday's last-gasp 1-0 victory at Charlton Athletic.

McCarthy has shown in his previous spells as manager at Sunderland and Wolves that he can build promotion-winning squads and he appears to be doing the trick again at Ipswich.

Watford

Having four head coaches in 37 days would usually point to a club being in turmoil but that does not appear to be the case at Vicarage Road, where the Hornets are attempting to return to the Premier League for the first time since the 2006/07 campaign.

Slavisa Jokanovic has brought an element of stability to the club although the players continued to pick up good results in the first two months of the campaign despite the short-lived reigns of Beppe Sannino, Oscar Garcia and Billy McKinlay.

Watford were unfortunate not to go up two seasons ago when they failed in the play-offs after finishing third, and appear to be on course to clinch a top-six place again this term.

Blackburn

Rovers finally seem to have stabilised after their embarrassing Premier League relegation season in 2011/12 when they became a laughing stock.

They are on a great run of form and have not lost since September but they may need another season in the Championship before launching a concerted promotion bid.

Brentford

With a new stadium on the way and a 4-0 win against Wolves lifting them up to third in the table, life does not get much better for Bees fans.

Mark Warburton has done unbelievably well to guide Brentford to such a position and they have won their last five matches, scoring 14 goals in the process. But surely they can't continue to show such good form for the rest of the season?

Nottingham Forest

Forest were many pundits' pre-season favourites for promotion and the tag seemed justified when they won five of their first seven matches and were still unbeaten after 11 games.

However, they have lost five of their last eight matches and have slumped to ninth in the table. If he was not such a City Ground hero, Stuart Pearce may already have paid the price for such a dismal run with his job.

Cardiff City

There are still plenty of big-name players on hefty wages at Cardiff but inconsistency has plagued their attempt to win their place back in the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Russell Slade is a good manager and, although they may have to settle for a mid-table finish this term, they could be one of the favourites to mount a promotion challenge in 2015/16.