Championship Predictions, Betting Tips & Odds 2023/24 Season

The summer break in football never seems to last as long as you expect it to when the season comes to an end each May. The Champions League final fills a gap in June and before you know it, the new season is upon us with the Championship, League One & League Two getting underway first, a week prior to the Premier League.

The upcoming season in the Championship could be a special one with three big teams from the Premier League dropping down into the second tier. Leeds, Leicester and Southampton will be eager to head straight back up into the top flight but it’s never an easy task in such a competitive and challenging league.

When Does The Championship Season Begin?

The 2023/24 Championship season gets underway on Friday 4th August with a single fixture between Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton kicking things off.

Last season, these two sides were separated by the Championship but with Wednesday achieving promotion from League One and the Saints finishing bottom of the Premier League, they now meet in the same league and both will be eager to get their seasons off to a good start.

You may expect Southampton to be odds-on favourites for the win in this match but Russell Martin’s side are priced at 29/20, showing just how competitive this league can be.

Championship Winner Prediction

Season-long bets aren’t for everyone but they can provide some excitement and interest throughout the season without the need to be placing multiple wagers on games.

The winner of the Championship often isn’t as clear cut as some other leagues and several teams this season are in with a chance of finishing top and gaining automatic promotion into the Premier League.

In most seasons, at least one of the sides relegated from the Premier League is favourite to win the Championship and this season is no different. In fact, Leicester (4/1), Leeds (7/1) and Southampton (8/1) are the bookies favourites, closely followed by last seasons playoff failures, Middlesbrough (10/1).

Although I don’t like backing favourites at short odds, especially with season-long bets, it’s not hard to see why Leicester City are tipped to top the Championship and head straight back to the top-flight which they won just 7 years ago.

The Foxes have lost some key players with James Maddison leaving for Spurs and Harvey Barnes heading to Newcastle being the two most notable departures. However, those two players have brought in around £80 million for the club which is a modest amount for a Championship side to have at their disposal, especially when considering they still have one of the strongest squads in the league.

Leicester have brought in defensive midfielder Harry Winks from Tottenham, centre-back Conor Cody from Wolves and strengthened their midfield with the arrival of left-winger Stephy Mavididi from Montpellier. Goalkeeper Mads Hermansen was also brought in from Danish side Brondby IF with the total spend for all four players being in the region of £30 million.

It’s unlikely that Leicester have finished their dealings in the summer transfer window and with a parachute payment of around £45 million expected, they certainly have the funds to bring in more players if required.

From the clubs that played in the Championship last season, it was Middlesbrough that impressed me the most, especially throughout the early months of 2023. They have improved immensely under Michael Carrick and will surely give it another crack this season, hoping to secure a playoff spot again, or perhaps go one better and win the league.

Championship Winner Prediction 2023/24
Leciester City	4/1
Middlesbrough (EW 3 Places)	10/1

Championship Promotion Prediction

The promotion market for the Championship appeals to be more than the outright winner market as it’s a lot more open with several clubs capable of achieving a top six finish. Last season, just 19 points separated 6th placed Sunderland and QPR in 20th place, showing just how competitive the league is.

At the time of writing, the bookies favourites for promotion from the Championship in the 2023/24 season are:

• Leicester (13/8)
• Leeds (9/4)
• Southampton (5/2)
• Middlesbrough (4/1)
• Norwich (5/1)
• Ipswich (11/2)
• West Brom (11/2)
• Watford (6/1)
• Stoke (7/1)
• Sunderland (8/1)
• Coventry (8/1)
• Millwall (9/1)

At odds of 4/1 with online bookmaker Midnite, I’d much rather back Middlesbrough to secure promotion via any method rather than to win the league at 10/1. In fact, the same goes for Leicester at 13/8. I think both those prices are more than fair but I will throw in a more of an outsider to keep things interesting.

Sunderland had a great run last season and nearly made their way back to the top flight after being relegated in 2017. The Black Cats managed to claw themselves out of League One in the season prior to last and almost achieved two consecutive promotions before falling at the final hurdle by throwing away a 2-1 lead in the first leg of the playoffs to Luton Town and losing 3-2 on aggregate.

Tony Mowbray’s side haven’t done a huge amount of business in the transfer window so far, bringing in centre-back Jenson Seelt from PSV and attacking midfielder Jobe Bellingham from Birmingham for under £2m each, along with a couple of youngsters from overseas. However, you get the feeling that if they get off to a good start, momentum will keep them going throughout the season and they’re one side that will be eager to return to the Premier League following a six-year absence. Best odds of 8/1 with SpreadEx for them to achieve that has value in my opinion.

Championship Promotion Prediction 2023/24
Middlesbrough	4/1
Sunderland	8/1

Championship Relegation Prediction

Now onto my Championship relegation predictions for the 2023/24 season which is often a difficult call to make in this league.

I’m confident that newly-promoted Ipswich will be able to hold their own in the Championship and more than likely have a fairly good season. I’d expect Sheffield Wednesday to also finish the season out of the drop-zone, although by a much narrower margin. Plymouth Argyle are somewhat of an uncertainty for me and the bookies have them priced at 5/2 to be relegated. However, it’s the favourites Rotherham who are the obvious choice for the drop.

Rotherham have failed to remain a Championship side for more than one season since 2016, dropping in and out of League One year-on-year. They finished 19th in the Championship last season, six points above the drop-zone, but given the standard of the teams that have entered the Championship from the Premier League, they’ll find it even tougher and I think they’ll once again be playing League One football next season. They’ve also had some key players leave the club which could add to their woes in their upcoming campaign.

Championship Relegation Prediction 2023/24
Rotherham	7/4

Championship Top Scorer Prediction

Leicester trio Patson Daka (10/1), Jamie Vardy (10/1) and Kelechi Inheanacho (12/1) make up three of the bookies top four favourites to bag the most goals in the Championship this coming term. However, it’s Middlesbrough’s Chuba Akpom that takes my fancy at a price of 11/1 with bookmaker Betfred.

The 27-year-old striker bagged 28 goals in 38 appearances last season for Boro and was one of the stand-out players in the league. The ex-Arsenal player is 11/1 currently to finish the season as the top scorer and as I expect Middlesbrough to do well, I think there’s value in that price.

One concern is that Akpom hasn’t featured pre-season for Middlesbrough due to injury and is likely to miss their opening match of the season against Millwall. However, if he can return for Boro’s second game away to Coventry a week later and hit the ground running, I’m expecting him to get on the scoresheet multiple times this season.

If you’re looking for more of an outsider to back in the top goalscorer market, Swansea’s Jerry Yates could be a good value bet.

Yates scored 14 goals last season which certainly won’t be enough to pick up the top scorer award but bear in mind that those goals were scored in a Blackpool side who finished second-bottom of the league. The 26-year-old has had interest from several big clubs this summer but has moved to Swansea where he’ll surely be gifted more chances in front of goal which should allow him to improve on his tally from last season.

You can back Jerry Yates to finish as the Championship top scorer at odds of 33/1 with Bet365 with 4 places available on their each way terms.

Championship Top Scorer Prediction 2023/24
Chuba Akpom	11/1
Jerry Yates (EW 4 Places)	33/1