CHAMPIONSHIP PREDICTIONS: WHO WILL WIN AUTOMATIC PROMOTION AND WHO FACES PLAY-OFF LOTTERY
The Championship has built a brand of being one of the most competitive divisions in Europe and this season has been delivering on that message.
With a three-way tussle for the second automatic spot, assuming leaders Coventry do not implode, and a further four teams attempting to clinch a play-off position, every game until the final day of the season on May 2 will have a say.
Here, Telegraph Sport predicts how the final table will look:
Derby created unwanted history in the 2007-08 season by becoming the worst side to play in the Premier League, finishing the season bottom on 11 points. They have not been back since, making it the club’s longest run outside the top division. From the depths of despair and financial chaos in League One, they are in the hunt for a top-six place, but manager John Eustace has criticised his side’s propensity to concede soft goals and with trips to Southampton and Norwich still to come, that could be their undoing.
Wrexham may not be to everyone’s taste, but if the club produce a Hollywood ending with promotion, it would surely go down as one of the greatest stories in English Football League history. The club were in non-League when actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over, and they are in the hunt for a remarkable fourth successive promotion. If they are to earn a top-six spot, they will have to do it the hard way, with their final two matches against Coventry and Middlesbrough.
Deadly duo Oli McBurnie and Joe Gelhardt are powering Hull’s push for a play-off place. With 13 goals apiece, they are joint-fourth in the Championship top scorers’ list, but it is at the other end where problems lie. Their goalless draw with Coventry on Monday was their first clean sheet in six matches after conceding 32 goals in 21 home games this season. They will need to tighten up at the back to hang on.
Tonda Eckert, 33, has enjoyed a flying start to his first senior job in management. Initially an interim coach following Will Still’s sacking, he was given the job permanently in December and has masterminded a 15-game unbeaten run, including a superb 2-1 win over Arsenal to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup. A date at Wembley has only served to spur them on more, given Tuesday’s 5-1 thrashing of Wrexham.
Middlesbrough momentarily clinched top spot in February after a run of six successive victories, but they have won only two of the subsequent 10 games, suffering a defeat by Millwall and drawing with Swansea over Easter. With such a downturn in form, they will find it difficult to pick up enough points to clinch second spot.
Alex Neil has done a fantastic job turning Millwall into promotion contenders, but the home defeat by Norwich on Monday was a bitter blow after the optimism gained following their late win over Middlesbrough on Good Friday. On paper, they have an easier run of games than their promotion rivals and will need to capitalise on that and hope Ipswich falter to clinch the final automatic spot.
Unbeaten in eight and with two games in hand, Ipswich have the upper hand on their rivals as they look to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking. With a derby showdown with Norwich this week and matches against promotion rivals Middlesbrough and Southampton to come, they will be tested more than others. They may need to lean on their healthy goal difference to get them over the line should the two chasing them hit form.
An entire generation of Coventry supporters have grown up without knowing what it is like to play in the Premier League, but Frank Lampard is set to change all that. Just four points are needed from the final five matches to guarantee a return to the top flight after a 25-year absence, having been stalwarts of the division for 34 consecutive years between 1967 and 2001.
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2026-04-07T07:00:43Z