Adrian Mills’ outright tips for the Championship include Middlesbrough to reach the top-flight and Coventry to secure a playoff place.
The new Championship season gets going on August 9th, the start of a marathon slog which will end with three clubs heading up to the Premier League and three dropping down to League One.
Leeds are the favourites to win the title after last season’s heroics which saw them miss out on automatic promotion despite amassing 90 points and then lose the play-off final 1-0 to Southampton.
But Whites’ fans will be wary of the relegated trio of Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton plus a string of other clubs who are desperate to rise out of the second tier.
The Championship is always entertaining, can be unpredictable and we have picked out our three best bets for the upcoming campaign.
Best bets
Middlesbrough to be promoted
10/3
Coventry top-six finish
15/8
Blackburn to be relegated
7/2
Carrick can build on late-season surge
Leeds make rock-solid sense given what they produced last year though with some of their young stars being eyed up by bigger clubs they are probably short enough in title betting.
Even if Daniel Farke’s men do shine there looks like an absolute bun-fight behind them to fill the next five spots in the table, with Middlesbrough looking in great shape to nab one of them.
But rather than a safe bet on the Teessiders to finish in the top six, take a chance on promotion at 10/3.
Last season’s League Cup semi-finalists lost just one of their last 12 matches to eventually get to within four points of the play-offs, quite a feat when you consider the injury mountain Michael Carrick had to deal with throughout the season.
Carrick lost free-scorers Chuba Akpom and Cameron Archer before the season had started, but unearthed a diamond of a replacement in Emmanuel Latte-Lath.
Other stars like Finn Azaz and Rav van den Berg emerged, while it was the unsung heroes, like Matt Clarke, Hayden Hackney and Jonny Howson who, when fit, improve Boro no end.
Cov can continue to shine
After sixth and ninth-place finishes in the past two seasons, there is no reason to feel Coventry City are going to fade from view.
Like Boro, they had to deal with an early-season double transfer blow when they lost Gus Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres, but recovered admirably to stay firmly in the play-off chase until they ran out of gas in the last few weeks of term.
FA Cup semi-finalists last season, Mark Robins hasn’t been overactive in the market place, but the addition of Jack Rudoni looks a clever piece of business to add more creativity and they don’t look short of goals with Brandon Thomas-Asante supplementing Ellis Simms and Haji Wright.
Rovers set for painful return
In Blackburn Rovers’ six seasons in the Championship since promotion from League One they have finished in the bottom 10 three times, most recently 19th last season.
They boast the pedigree of a former Premier League winner, but the reality is they will likely be looking over their shoulders in 2024/25, especially if, as seems likely, last year’s Golden Boot winner Sammie Szmodics departs Ewood Park.
It’s an unhappy ship at Blackburn, who managed only four league wins after Christmas and they are under enormous pressure.
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