Birmingham City, Leicester and Wrexham's final Championship table position predicted with play-off fate clear
The latest Opta supercomputer predicts how the Championship table will unfold
Birmingham City have experienced an inconsistent start to their first season back in the Championship following last term’s record-breaking promotion from League One.
They are currently in mid-table and in little danger of getting sucked into the relegation battle, but at the same time are only slightly below where the club’s ambitious owners would like them to be based on their overall summer spend. That’s largely down to the fact that Chris Davies' side have been very solid at home but also very susceptible to slip ups on the road.
The remit for the West Midlands side remains to compete for promotion and with a good run of form and a productive transfer window a play-off finish at the very least isn’t beyond the realms of possibility.
As it stands, Birmingham haven’t been quite as successful as fellow new boys Wrexham, but they’ve certainly kept pace with some of the big boys in the division including Leicester City, Sheffield United and Southampton, who are all way below where the experts expected them to be back in August. With that in mind, we take a look at the latest Opta Supercomputer to see how the table is likely to look come the end of the campaign.
Who will win the Championship this season?
Despite slipping off the pace slightly in recent weeks, Coventry City are expected to win the Championship and secure a return to the top-flight for the first time since relegation in 2001.
It’s been a long journey back for the Sky Blues amid financial struggles, stadium issues and even relegation to League Two, but they are now on an upwards trajectory with Frank Lampard and have been the standout team in the opening months of this season.
Opta backs Coventry to finish as champions with 88 points, eight ahead of Ipswich Town, who are expected to secure an instant return to the Premier League.
Championship final table predicted including Birmingham City finish
Birmingham are expected to finish the season in 15th position with 61 points. They are predicted to miss out on the play-offs by around eight points with Preston finishing in sixth and the likes of Hull City, Millwall and Middlesbrough all securing the other top six places.
West Brom aren’t expected to have much of a new-manager bounce under Chris Ramsay and are predicted to finish in 19th position. Pre-season title candidates Leicester are expected to remain in mid-table in 11th, one place below Wrexham in 10th place.
Further down the table, Sheffield Wednesday are predicted to finish bottom, with Oxford United and Norwich City joining them on the way down to League One.
Here is the full Championship predicted table, based on Opta’s most recent forecast on 19 January:
- Coventry City – 88
- Ipswich – 81
- Middlesbrough – 79
- Millwall – 74
- Hull City – 73
- Preston North End – 69
- Stoke City – 68
- Watford – 68
- Bristol City – 67
- Wrexham – 66
- Leicester City – 65
- QPR – 64
- Derby County– 64
- Sheffield United – 61
- Birmingham City – 61
- Southampton – 60
- Charlton Athletic– 58
- Swansea City – 57
- West Bromwich Albion – 55
- Blackburn Rovers– 53
- Portsmouth – 53
- Norwich City – 51
- Oxford United – 46
- Sheffield Wednesday – 11