2025-26 Championship predictions, title odds and best bets: Coventry's title dreams could be broken by Boro

2025-26 Championship best bets

Middlesbrough to win the title
1pt 15-2 Hills

West Brom top-six finish
1pt 7-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Swansea to be relegated
1pt 8-1 bet365, BoyleSports

2025-26 Championship title odds

Sign up with bet365 to bet on the Championship. Here are the latest odds for the title:

Odds correct at time of publishing

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Idling Cov at risk of being overhauled

Coventry have been setting a strong pace at the top of the Championship but they are showing signs of idling at the head of affairs and may end up being caught by Middlesbrough or Ipswich in what is shaping up to be a three-team title race.

Taking 48 points from 22 games is a fantastic effort from Frank Lampard's side, who are ahead of where Leeds and Burnley were at the same stage of last term.

Those two teams had amassed tallies of 45 and 44 by Christmas Day 2024 and went on to finish first and second with 100 points each, but their powerful second halves of the season may not be matched by the Sky Blues, who have won just one of their four December fixtures and, as a result, have seen their lead over Middlesbrough shrink from ten points to six.

Coventry are comfortably the league's top scorers but they have been a much-reduced threat without ten-goal top scorer Brandon Thomas-Asante, who has been absent for four weeks and counting with a hamstring strain.

Goals and victories are not coming quite so easily, so there is scope for a rival to dislodge them from first place.

Ipswich have recovered from a slow start to the season and are up to third after winning three of their last four games.

The Tractor Boys have an immensely strong squad, but they have an 11-point gap to bridge to the leaders and their status as second-favourites appears too respectful of their abilities.

Third favourites Middlesbrough are slightly longer odds and probably have a better chance of catching the Sky Blues.

Boro started the season well under Rob Edwards and, if anything, have gone up a notch under their new manager, Kim Hellberg.

The Teessiders had won four on the spin until Saturday's harsh 2-0 loss at Bristol City, where they bossed the game for long periods and won the shot count 28 to 13.

Thirteen of Boro's remaining 24 games are at the Riverside Stadium and a continuation of their strong home form could make them tough to stop.

Still time for Baggies to bounce back

More than half of the division will still be thinking about pushing for promotion, including 16th-placed West Brom who look overpriced for a top-six finish.

In such a competitive league as the Championship there are always challenges for teams to maintain a lofty position and opportunities for others to come from a long way back.

And there were two fast finishers in the playoffs last season, when Coventry and Bristol City ended up fifth and sixth despite being down in 17th and 12th on Christmas Day.

Even West Brom fans might struggle to recognise their team as potential challengers right now, but opinions can change quickly and there are a couple of big games coming up for the Baggies, who host Bristol City and QPR before the end of the year.

Albion's home record has been strong and, if they were to finish the year with a couple of positive results, the seven-point gap between themselves and the top six would probably be reduced to more manageable levels.

Until now they have been a team who have often seen small margins go against them.

However, there have been fairly recent glimpses of their potential, including a 3-2 loss at Coventry, where they led 2-1 before Jayson Molumby's red card, and an impressive televised 2-0 triumph at home to Sheffield United, who went into the contest as one of the form teams in the division.

It will take a big turnaround for Albion to extend their season but it is perhaps not quite as a unlikely as the prices suggest.

Swans to drift into relegation danger

Sheffield Wednesday look nailed on to finish bottom of the pile so there are effectively two other relegation places to be decided.

The markets seem to believe it to be a case of two from three teams as Oxford are odds-on for the drop while Norwich and Portsmouth are only narrowly odds against.

However, there is every chance that others will be drawn into the mix because Portsmouth are generally strong at home, Norwich are showing significant improvement under Philippe Clement and Oxford are astutely managed by Gary Rowett, who knows more than most about how to build a competitive Championship team.

Other clubs could be at risk, including 19th-placed Swansea, who are seven points above the drop zone.

Swansea picked up a big three points on Friday when a goalkeeping blunder from Arthur Okonkwo handed them a 90th minute goal in a 2-1 triumph at home to Wrexham.

But the Swans have lost their last four road trips and that will be a concern because three of their post-Christmas Day fixtures are away from home, starting with a visit to leaders Coventry.

Swansea might be in a more precarious position a fortnight from now, so this could be an opportune moment to back them for a bottom-three finish.

Read more mid-season predictions from our top tipsters:

Premier League: Arsenal and Man City set for epic title battle 

League One: Bluebirds could fly into the distance  

League Two: Magpies ready to take the step up   

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