West Brom, Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday’s play-off hopes assessed in final Championship table forecast

Frank Lampard’s in-form Coventry City piled the pressure on West Brom by recording a 2-1 victory away to fellow play-off hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday.

It secured Coventry’s sixth win in seven league matches and leaves the Sky Blues in seventh place and within touching distance of their West Midlands rivals in the race for a top six place. West Brom, meanwhile who have struggled to find consistency since the turn of the year, and the departure of Carlos Corberan, were far from their best as they followed up a 2-0 defeat to Blackburn with a disappointing 1-1 draw with Millwall.

Baggies boss Tony Mowbray was far from a happy figure at the end of the game. He told reporters: "We're disappointed with the draw, I always say to them 'we're here for the three points' because I genuinely believe we have better players than Millwall and the job for me is to make sure the talent we've got on the pitch gets the job done.They were really intense, as every time I've ever been to Millwall. If you don't fight your corner you are going to get beat and I think the team did fight their corner today.

"I just want them to be better so that we do come here and once we've seen the fight off, the first half say, the football takes over and the best team, which is us, pushes back and they're hanging on. That wasn't the case, if anything they were pushing the last five, 10 minutes of the game."

Mowbray was also critical of his team after the defeat to Blackburn Rovers and is demanding improvements. West Brom host Oxford United at the weekend before travelling to high-flying Leeds United a week later, but where do the experts at OPTA believe the team will be by the end of May? Here we take a look at their Championship forecast based on a variety of factors such as form, upcoming fixtures and XG.

The automatic promotion race

Championship heavyweights Leeds United are expected to return to the Premier League at the second time of asking as champions. Daniel Farke, who twice guided Norwich City to the big time, is expected to lead Leeds back to the top-flight with 97 points. OPTA gives the Whites a 71.98% chance of winning the title and 92.3% chance of securing promotion.

Sheffield United, who have impressed under Chris Wilder this term, are also expected to seal automatic promotion. The Blades have a forecast of 93 points and a 63% chance of securing promotion despite strong competition from Burnley and Sunderland.

Can West Brom secure a play-off place?

OPTA Sport expects West Brom to just sneak into the play-off places with a sixth placed finish. The Baggies are expected to finish below Burnley, Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers, but are expected to fend off competition from in-form Coventry City, Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday.

The Baggies have a forecast of 68 points and have a 41.84% chance of securing promotion via the play-offs at Wembley Stadium. The West Midlands side were beaten in the play-off semi-final by Southampton last term and would need to beat Burnley over two legs to reach the final based on the current predicted outcome.

OPTA’s full Championship predicted table

1. Leeds United
2. Sheffield United
3. Burnley
4. Sunderland
5. Blackburn
6. West Brom
7. Coventry City
8. Middlesbrough
9. Bristol City
10. Watford
11. Sheffield Wednesday
12. Norwich City
13. Preston
14. QPR
15. Millwall
16. Portsmouth
17. Stoke City
18. Swansea City
19. Oxford United
20. Hull City
21. Cardiff City
22. Derby County
23. Plymouth Argyle
24. Luton Town

In other news, following the closure of the winter window, Birmingham World looks at the best free agents that West Brom could still target.