Mark Langdon: Why everyone should stop calling the Championship unpredictable

The Championship is often referred to as the hardest league to forecast, the one division where anyone can beat anyone and the kind of unpredictable title battle that everyone loves but drives punters mad.

It remains a cliche, but it's not really true and Leeds' title triumph last season made it five wins in the last six years for the ante-post favourites. If anything the gap between the best and the rest might be getting wider in the Championship and half the division start at odds of at least 50-1 to win, while a quarter of the teams are available at 100-1 or bigger.

Last season Leeds went off at 1-4 to beat Swansea and were 4-9 on tricky trips to QPR and Portsmouth which highlighted the gulf between the best and the rest in the Championship. I picked out those three games because Leeds actually failed to win any of those fixtures, but United and Burnley both collected 100 points.

Leeds were 1.35 goals better than their opponents last season, finishing with a goal difference of +65 which compared favourably to Liverpool's average goal difference of 1.18. 

Most people would assume the Championship is a closer, more congested division than the Premier League but second-placed Burnley were further away from relegated Luton than Arsenal were from Leicester in the Premier League in the 2024-25 campaign.

Interestingly, there are no clear away favourites on this opening weekend of the Championship and the only strong favourites are Leicester who host crisis-club Sheffield Wednesday, and the Owls will do well to finish the campaign never mind upset the Foxes.

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Coventry are my pick, but backing them to finish in the top six or to be promoted are better bets in case one of the relegated teams use their financial advantage of Premier League parachute payments to make a swift return to the top flight.

Cov could also be worth backing on the handicap market, but I'd prefer not to have all of my eggs in the same basket and Millwall +24 are capable of making hay off a hefty mark without necessarily being good enough to win a spot in the Premier League.

The Lions gained 66 points last season and will be aiming to beat the 70-point mark now Alex Neil has had a pre-season to work with the side.

Ambition was shown in the summer, when Josh Coburn made his loan move permanent for a club-record fee to continue his blossoming powerful strike partnership alongside Mihailo Ivanovic. It's a double act which has got Millwall fans reminiscing of the glory days when Teddy Sheringham was causing carnage alongside Tony Cascarino. 

Millwall won five of the seven games Ivanovic and Coburn started together - the first of which was on March 15 - and Ivanovic, for now at least, remains at the club despite interest from Premier League and Serie A teams.

Ivanovic took time to adjust to life in England, but he got 11 goals in 2025 and seems certain to thrive from the service of left-sided Alfie Doughty, who had eight Premier League assists in just 37 appearances and looks another strong summer signing.

Down at the bottom, it appears only two places are available as Wednesday are in danger of folding due to the shocking ownership of Dejphon Chansiri.

Despite that, professional punter Nick Goff nominated Preston to be relegated as his best ante-post bet of the season in the Racing Post's YouTube preview show. 

You won't go far wrong following Nick, so PNE to drop, the Lions to roar and Coventry for promotion. This Championship lark is easy.

Read more from Mark Langdon:

Mark Langdon: The highs and lows of following an ante-post bet through the season

What punters can actually learn from pre-season - and it starts with penalties 

Why Everton could be the Premier League's handicap snip

Xabi Alonso's Real reboot starts now and it could define the Champions League season 

From Guardiola’s title warning to Boca’s 1-1000 blowout: why summer sport still hits hard

 Time-wasting crackdown is working – here’s hoping Premier League refs don’t bottle it 

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