Championship Promotion Race: News, odds and tips

April 18, 2024 – 4:24 am

Leicester seal title
Ipswich and Leeds gunning for automatic promotion
Saints resigned to playoffs

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The EFL Championship’s automatic promotion race this season has been a real nail-biter. Entering the final stages Leicester City, Leeds United, Ipswich Town and Southampton were all in the running to be automatically promoted to the Premier League. Southampton will now have to settle for the playoffs, while Leicester were confirmed as one of the promoted sides without kicking a ball as Leeds lost away at QPR on Friday. The Foxes then secured the title on Monday evening with a win over Preston.

Championship
Team	Played	Points	GD	GS
1. Leicester City	45	97	50	89
2. Leeds United	45	90	41	80
3. Ipswich Town	44	90′	32	88
4. Southampton	45	84	23	85

Should there be a tie, league positions are decided on goal difference, then goals scored, then most points in the head-to-head matches, then goal difference in the head-to-head games, before goals scored in those matches. Then we go to number of wins, followed by goals scored in away games.

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Championship Promotion Race: Remaining fixtures

The following fixtures remain for the four teams in contention for automatic promotion. Plenty more shifts in momentum look likely before the season concludes on May 4.

Date	Ipswich	Leicester	Leeds	Southampton
29 April		Preston (a)
30 April	Coventry (a)
4 May	Huddersfield (h)	Blackburn (h)	Southampton (h)	Leeds (a)

The odds for promotion are as follows. Odds are from bet365.

The odds on promotion are as follows:

	Odds	Odds on April 26	Odds on April 18
Ipswich Town	1/5	4/9	4/9
Leeds United	8/11	2/7	1/3
Southampton	13/8	13/8	1/1

Odds are correct as of 09:00 on 29.04.24. Odds are subject to change.

With Leeds losing at QPR, Ipswich, despite being held at the weekend, are in the driving seat, due to having a game in hand.

Two of the four teams in contention for automatic promotion will end up in the promotion playoffs. At the moment West Bromwich Albion and Norwich look favourites to secure the other two playoff berths, with Hull City, Coventry City and Middlesborough still in contention. The following table shows the odds for making the playoffs on April 18. We await the bookies to recalculate this based on the latest results.

Odds are correct as of 13:00 on 18.04.24. Odds are subject to change.

Prediction

We are tipping Ipswich to grab the second automatic spot after Leicester were confirmed as champions. Leeds and Southampton would then be first and second favourites to grab the third promotion slot in the play offs. However, history shows that it is difficult for sides who just miss out automatically to go again in the playoff fixtures. Norwich are building a bit of momentum and they could be a good value bet to go up via the playoffs.