It’s become a now-or-never situation for Canaries to hit Championship’s top-six target

Norwich City are running out of time to put together a play-off chase and may already be facing a mountain too steep to climb.

While Canaries fans are keeping a close eye on the weather forecast to see if Saturday's trip to lowly Barnsley will go ahead, we've been assessing the chances of a top-six finish for Daniel Farke's team.

Looking back on the past 10 seasons in the Championship, an average of 72 points has been needed to achieve sixth place in the final standings.

Currently City sit on 47 points with 12 matches remaining, leaving them in need of 25 points from the remaining 36 available just to reach that target of 72.

However, last season the total required for Fulham to be sure of sixth place was 76 – although they made sure of it by picking up 80, which was 10 points clear of the Canaries in eighth place.

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While plenty of fans have felt the top six has been out of reach for a while for Farke's developing squad, those figures emphasise it could soon be time to focus on building for next season.

Being held to a 0-0 draw at home by struggling Bolton on Saturday was a disappointing start to a run of five matches which offered the potential for a play-off launchpad.

Following that game against Wanderers is this weekend's weather-dependent trip to Barnsley to face a team with just one win in their last eight league games, who sit two points above the relegation zone.

With home games against Nottingham Forest and Reading either side of a trip to Hull – all of whom are below Norwich in the table – set to follow, the opportunity for a winning streak is there to be grabbed.

It has become a case of now-or-never for City though, with seven teams between them and the play-offs after slipping to 14th, and with the top five already looking out of reach.