Data experts predict shock Championship finishes for West Brom, Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End

West Bromwich Albion will be playing in the English second tier once again after failing to be promoted to the Premier League via a top-six finish. Russell Martin’s Southampton proved too strong in the play-off semi-finals, condemning the Baggies to another Championship campaign.

Local rivals Birmingham City were sensationally relegated to the third tier for the first time in 29 years, joined by Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town. The teams heading the other way - up from League One - are Portsmouth, Derby County and Oxford United. 

Relegated from the Premier League were Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United – the same trio that were promoted the campaign before. It’s bound to be another competitive season at the top with so many top clubs vouching for just three promotion spots.

With a month and a half remaining until the start of the season and a transfer window of exoduses and rebuilds in between, it would be bonkers to predict how things will go, right? Well, data experts have given their best shot at figuring out the likely finishes for every club.

The supercomputer used is a probability model, not determined by human predictions or bias. What happens is the supercomputer estimates the outcome of each remaining fixture based on a team’s current strength (based on factors such as league position and form). 

The machine then simulates the remaining games in a season 1,000 times and constructs an average league table from the 1,000 simulations, to rule out anomalous results. With that in mind, here’s where West Brom and the other 23 Championship are expected to finish.