Sky Bet Championship title, top-six & relegation betting preview and free tip

The Sky Bet Championship regular season resumes on Saturday and is due to finish on July 22 before the playoff final takes place in the first week of August.

Each club has nine fixtures remaining, so 108 games will be played in just 33 days. That hectic schedule will decide the fate of teams at both ends of the table.

Best bet

Cardiff to finish in the top six
1pt 5-1 bet365

Title race

Best odds 2-5 Leeds, 5-2 West Brom, 50 Fulham, 100 Brentford.

Leeds suffered a crushing end-of-season slump in 2018-19, missing out on automatic promotion before losing to Derby in the playoff semi-finals, but Marcelo Bielsa's men should make amends this term.

The leaders suffered four defeats in five games during January and February but a run of four straight wins to nil before the season was suspended left them a point clear of West Brom.

A seven-point gap to Fulham in third should ease nerves at Elland Road although things would get interesting if the Cottagers were to win their next two games, at home to fourth-placed Brentford and away to Leeds.

Leeds striker Jean-Kevin Augustin, who has played just 48 minutes since arriving on loan from Leipzig, suffered another injury setback and midfielder Adam Forshaw is sidelined after hip surgery.

West Brom, who have lost one of their last eight games, welcome back exciting winger Grady Diangana and experienced centre-back Ahmed Hegazy for the run-in.

Top-six finish

Best odds (no offers Leeds & West Brom) 1-25 Fulham, 1-20 Brentford, 1-3 Nottingham Forest, 13-8 Preston, 9-4 Millwall, 5 Cardiff, Bristol City, 7 Blackburn, Swansea, 33 Derby, QPR.

Fulham and Brentford have ground to make up on the teams in the automatic promotion places so the west London clubs are expected to fill two of the four playoff spots.

Nottingham Forest, thumped 3-0 at home by Millwall in their last game, are next in the top-six betting and below them there is a congested look to the table.

Just six points separate Preston in sixth and 13th-placed QPR, who won 3-1 at North End in their last game before the campaign was halted.

Blackburn have lost only three of their last 21 league matches, although one of those defeats was a 3-0 reverse at Derby, another team in the playoff mix.

Cardiff have also proved hard to beat, losing just four of their 25 Championship games since the appointment of Neil Harris in November.

They resume at home to title favourites Leeds but are just two points off the top six and are still to play Preston, Bristol City, Blackburn and Derby, four of their nearest rivals.

The three-month delay has enabled top scorer Lee Tomlin and winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing to recover from injury and the Bluebirds are worth a small bet to sneak into the top six.

Relegation

Best odds 1-5 Barnsley, 1-3 Luton, 4-6 Charlton, 13-8 Hull, 6 Wigan, 8 Middlesbrough, 10 Huddersfield, 18 Stoke.

Barnsley raised hopes of a great escape with wins over Fulham, Middlesbrough and Hull in February but they lost their next two and are seven points from safety.

Luton, a point better off than the Tykes and 4-1 shots to stay up, have reappointed Nathan Jones as manager. Jones played a key role in the Hatters' rise from League Two to the Championship and striker James Collins described his return to the club as "a stroke of genius".

Jones takes over a team with the worst defensive record in the division although Luton's last six games under Graeme Jones yielded three wins, two draws and one defeat.

Charlton, third from bottom, are weakened by top scorer Lyle Taylor's refusal to play in case injury jeopardises a summer transfer. Chris Solly and David Davis have also ruled themselves out of action.

Hull, who face the Addicks on Saturday, remain in deep trouble and have released Eric Lichaj, Jackson Irvine, Marcus Maddison and Stephen Kingsley.

The Tigers' form slumped dramatically after the January sales of forwards Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki and another attacking option, loanee Mallik Wilks, is available for only two more games before he returns to parent club Barnsley.

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