Supercomputer shares new Championship promotion prediction after latest round of fixtures
Opta have issued their predictions for how they think the Championship promotion race will finish at the end of this season following the weekend’s results.
Coventry City have been leading the way at the top of the Championship under Frank Lampard for the majority of the campaign so far.
Middlesbrough sit in second place right now after returning to form under new boss Kim Hellberg, with Ipswich Town in third following some seriously impressive recent performances.
The playoff race is heating up as time passes, with Millwall, Hull City and Preston North End currently occupying the rest of the spots in the top six.
There are three-and-a-half months until the end of the 2025-26 second-tier campaign, and Opta’s supercomputer has predicted how the top half of the table is set to end up.
Opta predict Ipswich to finish second and Millwall, Hull and Preston top six
Opta‘s supercomputer had previously predicted Middlesbrough to be promoted ahead of Ipswich in second place, with Hull City, Watford and Bristol City all competing in the play-offs come May.
The Tractor Boys sit behind Boro in the current standings, but do have a game in hand, with Opta’s latest predictions having Kieran McKenna’s side as 52.24 per cent likely to finish in the top two, with the Teessiders on 32.14 per cent.
Coventry are still backed to go up as champions, with a 90.82 per cent chance of an automatic promotion berth, while the race for a top six finish is set to go down to the wire.
The supercomputer’s calculations have Millwall, Hull and Preston to finish between fourth and sixth, with the latter given a 35.78 per cent chance of making the playoffs.
That means seventh-placed Stoke City are expected to miss out, with a 29.72 per cent chance of getting into the top six, while Watford, Bristol City and Wrexham are the other closest predicted contenders.
Who do Opta think will be relegated from the Championship?
The battle to survive at the wrong end of the Championship currently has fewer teams involved, with Sheffield Wednesday already all but relegated on minus seven points due to EFL sanctions.
They have been handed a 100 per cent chance of going down, while 23rd-placed Oxford recently sacked Gary Rowett and hired Matt Bloomfield, yet still look set to return to League One with a 72.12 per cent chance of relegation as it stands.
22nd-placed Norwich City and 21st-placed Portsmouth won over the weekend against Wrexham and Wednesday respectively, and it is the former who are expected to go down on 51 points as it stands.
Their 39.52 per cent chance of relegation is not much bigger than Pompey’s 28.94 per cent, with just two points predicted to separate them come 2 May.