The Championship kicks off tomorrow, we take a look at the latest odds and pick out some season predictions.
The Championship returns this weekend as one of the most unpredictable seasons in years gets underway.
West Ham, Wolves and Burnley all arrive with parachute payments and Premier League pedigree after relegation, while Cardiff, Bolton and Lincoln step up as this season's promoted trio.
Southampton start under a cloud, docked four points following last season's "Spygate" scandal, yet still expected to challenge near the top under Tonda Eckert.
The play-off race has also been transformed, with the format expanding from four to eight teams for the first time in nearly four decades, handing sides as low as eighth place a route to Wembley.
With bookmakers installing West Ham as clear favourites and a host of danger clubs lurking in the chasing pack, here's a full breakdown of the outright winner, relegation and top scorer markets, plus our predictions for how the table could shape up by May.
Championship Winner Odds
- West Ham United – 7/4
- Wolverhampton Wanderers – 11/2
- Middlesbrough – 10/1
- Burnley – 14/1
- Southampton – 14/1
- Norwich City – 16/1
West Ham head into the campaign as strong favourites (7/4 with Ladbrokes), and the numbers back it up. Six of the last ten pre-season favourites have gone on to win the title outright. West Ham also tick every box in a wider trends model that scores clubs across five key promotion indicators (previous finish, parachute payment year, managerial experience, market position and second-half form): they scored maximum points in all five categories, the only club in the division to do so. Their attacking options, Jarrod Bowen, Taty Castellanos and Simon Adingra, give them arguably the most potent forward line outside the Premier League, while a second-half surge last season (11 points better than their first-half tally) suggests they have momentum heading into August.
Wolves sit clearly second in the market (11/2 with BetMGM). They finished bottom of the Premier League last term, 21 points from safety, but a Championship return often flatters sides with recent top-flight quality - of the last ten champions, five came straight down from the Premier League. The recruitment of Raúl Jiménez and Kieran Trippier adds proven know-how, though new head coach César Peixoto arrives with zero experience of English football, a variable that could swing results either way early on.
Middlesbrough's price (10/1 with BetMGM) reflects a club that has now missed out on promotion in four of the last six seasons despite spending most of that time in and around the top two, they occupied a top-two spot for 35 of 46 matchdays last term before fading.
Burnley and Southampton are tied at 14/1: Burnley have won automatic promotion with 100+ points in each of their last two Championship spells, but this time arrive shorn of key players like Jaidon Anthony and Maxime Estève.
Southampton's odds already price in the four-point deduction - without it, their record haul of 68 points across the second half of last season (the best in the division) would make them a top-two banker on form alone.
Championship Relegation Odds
- Lincoln City – 4/5
- Cardiff City – 11/8
- Bolton Wanderers – 11/8
- Charlton Athletic – 13/8
- Preston North End – 4/1
- Blackburn Rovers – 9/2
Lincoln's odds-on price (4/5 with StarSports) for the drop tells its own story. Promotion via a 103-point League One campaign was a remarkable achievement, but history is brutal on newly promoted sides jumping two divisions in quality, and the loss of title-winning manager Michael Skubala to Bristol City, replaced by a joint head-coach setup, adds real uncertainty to a squad already considered light on Championship-level depth.
Cardiff and Bolton share second-favourite billing for relegation. Cardiff's young squad - average starting XI age of just 22 last season - offers long-term promise but little proven Championship pedigree, while Bolton face the step up after a seven-year absence from the division.
Charlton's price is notable given they finished 19th and seven points clear of danger last term; the market clearly expects last season's survival to prove a high-water mark rather than a platform.
Preston and Blackburn complete the six, with Blackburn's threadbare transfer window under Tony Mowbray offering little reason for optimism - a club that has repeatedly hovered just above the drop zone in recent years with declining margin for error.
Championship Top Scorer Odds
- Jarrod Bowen – 11/2
- Raúl Jiménez – 9/1
- Will Lankshear – 10/1
- Taty Castellanos – 10/1
- Mohamed Touré – 16/1
- Adam Armstrong – 17/1
Bowen's (11/2 with various bookamkers) favouritism is straightforward: he's the most clinical finisher in a West Ham side expected to dominate the ball against weaker Championship defences, and players dropping down from proven Premier League goalscoring records have a strong recent history in this market.
Jiménez offers an intriguing alternative at 9/1 - across his last three years at Fulham he scored 28 Premier League goals, and returning to a division several levels below that quality could see him bully centre-backs all season.
Lankshear arrives at Middlesbrough from Tottenham as one of several attacking reinforcements aimed at fixing a Boro side that badly missed a focal point up top last term.
Castellanos gives West Ham a second route into this market, while Touré and Armstrong represent the value picks.
Championship 2026/27 Predictions
Top two: West Ham & Wolves
West Ham's case for the title is built on more than just financial muscle, a maximum score across every major trends category (played in the Prem, have Championship experience, title favourites, scored more points in second half of last season), a settled managerial setup under Nuno, and a second-half-of-season points surge last term (+11 versus the first half) all point the same direction. The one risk factor is a squad still being reshaped late into the window amid ongoing takeover talk, but the attacking quality alone should be enough to overpower most Championship defences.
Wolves take the second automatic spot on the strength of a genuinely Premier League-calibre core retained through relegation, reinforced by Trippier and Jiménez. The form shown under previous boss Rob Edwards - unbeaten in five of their last six games including wins over Aston Villa and Liverpool - suggests there's a talented group here regardless of who's picking the team. Peixoto's inexperience is the obvious wildcard, but the playing squad has enough Championship-beating quality to carry a new head coach through any early teething problems.
Bottom three: Lincoln, Bolton & Blackburn
Lincoln's rise to the second tier for the first time since 1961 is a remarkable achievement, but the gulf between League One and Championship quality, combined with a joint head-coach setup replacing the manager who got them up, points to an immediate return down. Bolton face a similarly steep learning curve after seven years away from the division, with limited Championship experience across the squad likely to show in a division where fine margins at both ends of the pitch matter enormously.
Blackburn complete the trio. Tony Mowbray's side have made a habit of narrow survivals in recent seasons, but a notably quiet summer transfer window leaves them short of the reinforcements needed to keep pulling off that trick, and with the margin for error already thin, this looks like the year it finally catches up with them.
