It’s time to focus on one of the toughest and most competitive leagues in England – the Championship. A lot of tough fights take place throughout the season for a chance to play in the prestigious Premier League but only three clubs will be awarded that ticket through England’s top tier.
Join us as we go through some of the teams that are in contention of clinching promotion to the Premier League. Dive into the LV BET Sports Blog to expand your horizons on football and other sports you might be interested in.
Burnley
Vincent Kompany, implemented the teachings of Pep Guardiola in the Championship, which is a very easy-on-the-eye method of winning games. They are in control of the league sitting at the top with a nice seven-point gap. Losing just two games and setting the tone for the league. One cannot underestimate the job that Vincent has done, selling some big players, getting in the money and investing that same money in wise recruits. In summer, 16 new signings were announced – so that is a big overhaul of the squad. In terms of the players that stayed, such as Jay Rodriguez, Brownhill, Ashley Barnes and Cork. Another interesting prospect that we might come to know even more next season is Anass Zaroury, who is a 22-year-old winger who played for Morocco to the Qatar World Cup.
The style of play is very much possession-based, and that works in the Championship, but as they make the gradual transition towards the Premier League, things might not continue as they were. When coming up against the big dogs of the Premier League, Vincent Kompany might be a bit more pragmatic in his approach; we can see that in the FA Cup tie that they played against Manchester United.
We are pricing Burnley to cruise uncontested towards the Championship title at 4/25 (1.16).
Sheffield United
Sheffield United are currently second, not really threatened by Middlesbrough, Luton or Watford, with a very healthy gap of 10 points. They have the best defence in the league, conceding two less goals than Burnley, who are top. Despite the number of injuries sustained in the early part of the season, they managed to ride that wave and stay competitive and remain in the automatic promotion spots. Paul Heckingbottom has been the catalyst for success, managing to chop and change his side and make ends meet. We are pricing the Blades to finish in the top two places at 1/8 (1.12). A very good signal of a good side is that the goals come from various players and not just from the striker; Iliman Ndiaye and Oliver McBurnie are both on 10 goals each, whilst Sander Berge and Anel Ahmedhodzic are on five goals. It’s a very cohesive team, and the players have bought into the system that the manager has imposed.
Now it will be a question of sustaining that momentum till the end of the season to avoid the squabble of the playoffs. Players are returning back to fitness, so it will be a question of keeping the squad happy and winning games. We are pricing Sheffield United to win the Championship at 4/1 (5.00).
Middlesbrough
What a turnaround it has been for the Boro, after a torrid start to the season, they recovered well and are among the big players to fight it out for promotion. Michael Carrick will surely relish the chance to take his boys to Wembley and maybe seal their ticket to the Premier League. Michael Carrick took over when the North East club was in 21st place and now they are in third place. The English manager advocates confidence and personality to his players, and most importantly, enjoy the chance of playing in front of thousands of people. A very good sign of his coaching methods is how he developed Chuba Akpom – from a player who scored 12 goals in 105 appearances to being the club’s top scorer with 16 goals in 23 this season.
The ambition at the start of the season wasn’t to qualify for promotion, but since they find themselves in that situation, the board would feel that they need to take their chances. We are pricing Middlesbrough to be promoted to the Premier League at 11/4 (3.75), with an automatic promotion valued at 12/1 (13.00).
Watford
Just like the previous years in the Premier League, Watford have been ruthless with manager sackings and at the moment, Slaven Bilic is in that hot seat. He won the first game 4-0 away at Stoke – we all know what a tough fixture that is. Currently, they are placed in fifth place with a gap of three points to Middlesbrough, which is not a bad place to be. In the previous couple of games, they lost to Middlesbrough, Swansea and Millwall whilst drawing to Rotherham and Reading.
The team seems to have hit a barrier in terms of results, which has diminished the comfortable position that they made for themselves earlier in the season. We are optimistic about the chances of Watford making it into the top six and we’re pricing them at 3/2 (2.50), but as most people who watch the Championship would say, there are a lot of games to be played, and things can change drastically.
Luton Town
Luton has emerged as one of the teams capable of taking the fight to the big names in the Championship. It’s not always easy to compete with teams that are dropping from the Premier League and have a solid basis on which to build. Luton are going about their business with great aplomb, narrowly winning their latest crop of games, but getting over the line when needed. Good examples are two 1-0 wins against Stoke and Cardiff, who relentlessly tried to frustrate Luton and disrupt their rhythm.
The Hatters are in a key position at the moment as they have a crucial game against Middlesbrough; should they win that game in hand, they will go up to third. A very good position to be in, giving great confidence to the players and coaching staff in their chances of promotion. From a neutral point of view, when the pressure is on, Luton have produced the goods to win the game, and that is a side that could certainly do well in the playoffs, especially on the big occasion at Wembley.
LV Bet is pricing Luton Town to finish in the top six at 13/20 (1.65)
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*Odds subject to change. Odds correct at time of publishing