BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche will be keeping an eye on how Middlesbrough get on at Birmingham tonight as the Championship promotion race approaches the home straight.

If Aitor Karanka’s side fail to win at St Andrew’s tonight then it opens up the possibility of the Clarets being promoted in front of their own fans on Monday, something they could do with victory over Queens Park Rangers if Brighton fail to beat Derby in the earlier kick-off.

MORE TOP STORIES:

All three sides vying for automatic promotion are live on TV this weekend, with the top three locked together on 87 points.

“We’ll watch that one,” Dyche said of Middlesbrough opening proceedings tonight.

“The Monday one we’ll be preparing ourselves.

“I watch all the games, regardless of positions. It’s a learning phase of watching games, picking up tips and watching other teams. It just happens these are important games.”

Burnley, Boro and Brighton have moved clear of the rest of the division with all three putting together impressive runs of results.

“It’s been a really competitive Championship this year,” said Dyche.

“If you look at some of the sides who’ve had indifferent spells.

“The three of us have maintained a high ratio of wins to be where we are.

“Ours is slightly different, after Boxing Day we were eight points behind Middlesbrough and maybe six behind Brighton.

“Our journey has been slightly different, we’ve had catching up to do and we’ve done that very well.”

Burnley will have had 10 days rest when they take to the field against QPR, having last played in the win over Preston on Friday night.