Championship predictions, betting odds and tips: Leeds can reclaim top-flight status

Already advised by Dan Childs

Leicester to win the title
2pts 4-1 general

Middlesbrough to be promoted
2pts 3-1 general

QPR to be relegated
1pt 3-1 general

Huddersfield to be relegated
1pt 3-1 general

J Yates top Championship goalscorer
1pt each-way 40-1 bet365

R Healey top Championship goalscorer
1pt each-way 80-1 bet365

Norwich top-six finish
2pts 9-4 bet365

New recommendations

Leeds to finish in top two
2pts 11-5 Betfair, Paddy Power

Coventry to finish in top six
1pt 7-2 general

Crysencio Summerville top scorer
1pt 8-1 bet365

Championship predictions

Leeds can reclaim Premier League status

The Championship has a reputation as an ultra-competitive division but Leicester have taken it by storm in 2023-24 and look to be comfortably heading for the title.

Relegation presented some major challenges for the Foxes, who knew they were about to lose the services of some high quality players.

James Maddison, Youri Tielemans and Harvey Barnes were among the players to leave but Leicester soon set about plugging the gaps under their new head coach Enzo Maresca.

The Foxes have amassed 65 points and are on course to comfortably surpass the 106-point record tally amassed by Reading in 2005-06.

With one of the automatic slots seemingly sewn up, the race is on between Ipswich, Southampton and Leeds to finish best of the rest.

Ipswich have been in the top two since September and are 11-8 to clinch a second successive automatic promotion but those odds look on the short side for a team who have gone five games without a win.

The Tractor Boys' cause has not been helped by a serious injury to centre-forward George Hirst which threatens to rule him out for several months.

Ipswich's grip on second place looks tenuous with third-placed Southampton and fourth-placed Leeds in hot pursuit.

Southampton have recovered superbly from a shaky start to the season and extended their unbeaten run to 18 games with Monday's 1-1 draw at Norwich, but there are ongoing question marks over their defensive competence with only seven clean sheets kept in 26 matches.

Leeds have a more solid backline with only 25 goals conceded and they possess potentially the best group of forwards in the division.

Crysensio Summerville, Joel Piroe and Dan James have helped themselves to goal tallies of 12, nine and eight, while Georginio Rutter's nine assists puts him joint top of the stats table alongside Southampton's Adam Armstrong, Leicester's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Ipswich's Leif Davis.

Leeds also boast the attacking talents of Patrick Bamford and Wilfried Gnonto and the sheer depth of quality in their squad makes them a decent bet for a top-two finish at 11-5.

Coventry boss Mark Robins could be Wembley bound againCredit: Ross Kinnaird

Sky Blues targeting another playoff finish

While the battle for second looks an intriguing three-team affair, the race for playoff places looks wide open.

Every club down to 17th-placed Blackburn will have ambitions to push towards the top six and there appear to be two slots up for grabs as fifth-placed West Brom and sixth-placed Sunderland appear to lack the consistency to pull clear of the chasing pack.

Albion's top-six odds looks extremely short at 8-13.

Eighth-placed Coventry are only five points below the Baggies and they appeal at 7-2 to secure a top-six berth for a second successive season.

The Sky Blues got off to a slow start which was understandable given the disappointment they experienced in last season's playoff final and the summer departure of star striker Victor Gyokeres to Sporting Lisbon.

Gyokores's goals were missed in the early part of the season, but new signing Haji Wright has come to the fore in recent months, scoring six times in his last 12 appearances.

Coventry have also been massively boosted by the return from injury of classy attacking midfielder Callum O'Hare, and they look well-placed to enjoy a positive end to the campaign.

Crysencio Summerville can storm to the top of the charts

The battle to be the Championship's top scorer looks set to be hotly contested despite Blackburn's 16-goal attacking midfielder Sammie Szmodics establishing a useful lead.

Opposing defences have been slow to adjust to the threat of Szmodics, who never seems flustered when chances arrive.

However, the 28-year-old is likely to receive closer attention in the final four months of the campaign and could be caught by 12-goal Leeds attacker Summerville, who is yet to reach his full potential.

Summerville started the season slowly, scoring once in nine games, but has developed into Leeds's most dangerous attacking asset.

He has a heady mix of pace, skill and superb technique and looks an overpriced 8-1 shot to top the scoring charts.

QPR and Huddersfield look destined for the drop

The bottom seven teams appear to be the only ones involved in the relegation battle but basement boys Rotherham look in big trouble - they are seven points adrift of safety - and are understandably short at 1-14 for a bottom-three finish.

Sheffield Wednesday looked dead and buried after taking only seven points from their first 18 games but they have improved under rookie manager Danny Rohl and could yet get themselves out of trouble.

The Owls' revival looks bad news for fellow strugglers QPR and Huddersfield, who both look on course for third-tier football.

QPR's problems are likely to deepen while star man Ilias Chair is at the Africa Cup of Nations while Huddersfield appear to have serious problems having won just three of 19 league games since swapping veteran manager Neil Warnock for Darren Moore.

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