Championship playoffs: Slick Saints are undoubtedly the team to beat

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The Championship playoff final has often been described as 'the richest game in football' and this year's four promotion hopefuls will be hoping they can land the spoils at Wembley on Saturday, May 23.

Three of this year's quartet – Southampton, Middlesbrough and Hull – have all previously earned promotion to the top flight through the playoffs, while Millwall only just missed out on automatic promotion on the final day of the regular season.

Best bets for the Championship playoffs

Southampton to be promoted
2pts 2-1 general

Dan Childs' Championship playoff predictions

Southampton suffered Wembley heartache in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City but they can return to the national stadium in the Championship playoffs and seal a return to the Premier League.

Few teams have reached the playoffs in better shape than the Saints, who are unbeaten in 19 league games, but there is still some value in siding with Tonda Eckert's side, who are 8-11 to come through their semi-final against Middlesbrough and 2-1 to go up.

Boro and Millwall are only slightly bigger odds at 9-4, while Hull are 6-1 having clinched sixth place with a 2-1 triumph at home to Norwich in their final match of the season.

Extending the season was seen as an achievement in itself by Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic, who declared "mission complete" after his team were victorious last weekend.

The Tigers approached their final game in seventh place and on a six-game winless run, but they jumped above Wrexham, who drew 2-2 at home to Middlesbrough.

Hull's top-six finish was achieved despite 15 defeats and modest plus-four goal difference.

They have conceded 66 goals, the worst defensive record among top-half teams, and it could have been even worse because their expected goals-against total of 82.69 was second only to basement boys Sheffield Wednesday.

The Tigers can take confidence from taking six points off Southampton and beating Millwall and Middlesbrough away from home.

However, they finished the season ten points worse off than semi-final opponents Millwall and they may struggle to get past the Londoners, who have got stronger as the season has progressed.

Millwall are a powerful, well coached team with some high-quality attackers.

Femi Azeez, a reported summer target for Ipswich, contributed 11 goals and seven assists, while centre-forward Josh Coburn came to the fore with six goals in his last ten appearances.

The Lions have had a great season and look worthy 2-5 favourites to reach the final.

Southampton's tie with Middlesbrough could be more evenly balanced.

Boro started the season strongly and were in the top two from early January until the end of March.

However, their standards dropped more recently as they picked up only two wins from their last ten games, and there was a key reason for the decline because influential midfielder Hayden Hackney missed the final eight matches through injury.

Boro are hoping Hackney can recover to play some part in the playoffs but doubts over the player's fitness make it hard to have full faith in Kim Hellberg's side.

Southampton look in a much healthier situation with key players fit and confidence levels sky-high.

The south-coast side demonstrated their squad strength by maintaining a run to the FA Cup semi-finals alongside a charge up the table.

Eckert's have a couple of big tasks ahead of them but they seem to have all bases covered and are worthy favourites to succeed.

Who are the favourites to win the Championship playoffs?

Sign up to Sky Bet to bet on the 2025-26 Championship playoffs. Here are the latest odds in the race for promotion to the Premier League:

Odds correct at time of publication

Read more on the 2025-26 EFL playoffs:

League One | League Two 

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