Championship outright betting tips: Who will finish in the top six and who will be relegated?

Hope springs eternal at the start of every Championship season. Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United will hope for a quick escape, while Derby County, Oxford United and Portsmouth will relish being back among the EFL’s big boys.

Fans of all 24 clubs will insist this is their year, even if they’ve sold 10 players or finished in the bottom six last year.

Allow us to dump on your misplaced early-season optimism with our outright tips for the season, including who will be relegated.

 

Suggested bets

Top-six finish: Middlesbrough

Top-six finish: Norwich City

Relegated: Oxford United

Relegated: Blackburn Rovers

Top South East club: Luton Town

 

Which teams will finish in the top six?

The automatic promotion contenders we identified, Leeds United, Burnley, Luton, Middlesbrough and Sheffield United, all stand a good chance of making the play-offs.

However, there’s no logic in backing the first two, as their measly prices mean small profits of 25p and 66p respectively for every pound bet. Everyone else, from the Hatters at 5/4 down to Oxford at 11/1, is worth consideration.

We aren’t expecting another Ipswich Town to emerge from the promoted teams yet there’s no shortage of candidates from the middle of the pack who offer a healthy price.

Stoke City are expected to fare well this year, whilst Watford showed signs of promise under Tom Cleverley. Hull City and Norwich made a push for seventh last season, and that could be the case again.

The Canaries pose a major threat. Not only is Josh Sargent a potential Golden Boot winner, but Marcelino Nunez and Gabriel Sara are good enough to grace any team in the league.

Sunderland are facing a battle to keep a handful of their young prospects. Clubs circle the Stadium of Light year after year, but the Black Cats still field a competitive team. If they retain enough talent and show they’ve matured, they could be a major player.

 

Who will be relegated from the Championship?

If you’re willing to trust the bookmaker's odds, and you arguably never should, then Oxford will make an immediate return to League One, taking Plymouth Argyle and either Cardiff City or Preston North End with them.

All three promoted sides survived last season, but it’s worth noting that only one of the three did so in the four years prior.

When you look at how Wycombe Wanderers and Rotherham United fared in recent seasons, both clubs of comparable size and finances, it’s hard to argue against the U’s going back down. That said, they’re a new face, so we hope they don’t.

Derby and Portsmouth aren’t on our radar at all. The former has the potential to establish themselves and steadily build towards a play-off challenge in the coming years, while Fratton Park will be a very hard place to pick up points.

Instead, we’re drawn to Blackburn Rovers. They were shambolic for so much of last season and if Sammie Szmodics goes, it’s hard to see them having a good year.

Plymouth fell apart in the second half of the season and survived by the skin of their teeth. Still, Home Park can also be a fortress. 

 

Luton Town are best in South East

Under regional markets on Bet365, you’ll find a mini-league comprising Luton, Watford, Queens Park Rangers and Millwall. Seeing as we have picked Town as a contender for automatic promotion, it makes sense to back them to finish above those three teams.

The odds on offer are 9/10 at the time of writing, so there’s enough there for it to be a sizeable single bet, or utilised as an addition to an acca.