Credit: Imago

Evan Lloyd

Wed 22 April 2026 10:34, UK

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Championship title winners Coventry City confirmed their status as champions on Tuesday, having already booked their place in the Premier League.

The Sky Blues beat Portsmouth 5-1 to ignite an already celebratory mood around the city, on the night that relegation was confirmed just up the road.

Leicester City’s 2-2 draw with Hull City confirmed their place in League One for next season, just 10 years after they won the Premier League.

Oxford United are likely to join the Foxes and Sheffield Wednesday in the third tier, but the race for promotion remains less clear.

Millwall are currently second, but they have played two more games than the inconsistent Ipswich Town.

Championship race for automatic promotion goes down to wire

Football Insider exclusively revealed last week that Coventry are confident of keeping Haji Wright this summer amid Premier League interest.

Promotion will allow them to do so, and several other clubs are fighting for the same privilege.

On paper, Ipswich are the favourites to take the second automatic promotion spot and earn an immediate return to the Premier League.

The Tractor Boys are three points behind Millwall but have played two games less, and hold a significant advantage in goal difference.

The Lions have the position currently, however, and will hope that the pressure of the chase gets to Kieran McKenna’s side.

The dark horses are Southampton, who are in the race after an extraordinary run of form. The Saints’ chances of the automatic spot may have ended after Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Bristol City, however.

Opta‘s supercomputer has named Ipswich as the favourite with 48.18 per cent, Millwall with 42.92 per cent, while Southampton hold just 6.78 per cent.

Middlesbrough’s collapse is the biggest story in the race for promotion, with a title-challenge now a battle to stay in the play-off spots after seven consecutive games without victory.

Who are the favourite for Championship play-offs?

The Championship play-off spots are currently occupied by Ipswich, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Wrexham, who have leapfrogged Hull City into sixth on goal difference.

The supercomputer has predicted that it is too close to call between the pair, with just a 0.02 per cent difference currently handing the edge to the Welsh side.

Middlesbrough and Southampton have been given massive chances to finish in the play-off spots, with Boro’s game in hand serving as a sizable advantage.

Millwall have also been predicted to have a stronger chance of making the play-offs than Ipswich, although they will fight that until the end.