Championship Predictions & Odds 2021/22

For the upcoming SkyBet Championship season, the three team that got relegated are the top three favourites to win the league, as Fulham come in as favourites at 5/1, whilst West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield United have the odds of 6/1 and 7/1. Bournemouth are fourth favourites at 9/1.

Ironically, all four of these sides have had managerial changes, as Fulham appointed former Watford and Everton manager Marco Silva, following the departure of Scott Parker to Bournemouth, whilst Valerien Ismael joined the Baggies having worked wonders at Barnsley last season and Slavisa Jokanovic took the vacant managerial role at Sheffield United.

Last season both Norwich City and Watford were promoted as first and second place, whilst Brentford managed to beat Swansea City in the playoff final, which could be a good omen for some of those which dropped down to the Championship from the Premier League last season. Both Parker and Jokanovic also have previous experience of earning promotion to the Premier League, as they both won the playoffs with Fulham, in 2020 and 2018 and the Serbian even managed to earn automatic promotion with Watford in the 2014/15 season.

What must be noted is that Fulham have kept the majority of their side that played in the Premier League last season apart from Alphonse Areola, Joachim Andersen and Ademola Lookman, although they have signed the likes of Paulo Gazzaniga and Harry Wilson on permanent deals from Tottenham and Liverpool.

The two firm favourites to win the Golden Boot for the upcoming season are Adam Armstrong and Aleksandar Mitrovic at 7/1 and 8/1.

Mitrovic has a good record in the Championship, having finished as top scorer in the 2019/20 campaign with 26 goals and actually has 51 goal involvements in 82 appearances in this division. Meanwhile, Armstrong was sensational last time out for Blackburn Rovers, managing 28 in 43 games, finishing three behind Brentford’s Ivan Toney.

Queens Park Rangers striker Charlie Austin comes in as the third favourite at 14/1 having been a prolific scorer at this level, doing so 83 times in 184 appearances. West Brom striker Karlan Grant also has the same odds having scored 20 in 65 for Huddersfield and West Brom at this level and could potentially be a dark horse for the Golden Boot due to the high tempo style of play which the Baggies will play under Ismael.

Wales international Kieffer Moore will be looking to add to the 20 he scored in 42 league matches for Cardiff City and has the odds of 16/1 to win the Golden Boot alongside Reading hitman Lucas Joao who netted 19 in 37 last time out.

The relegation odds are as close as ever with Blackpool and Peterborough United both priced at 3/1 to go back down following promotion from League One last time out. Huddersfield are the third favourites to be relegated at 10/3 which may surprise a few considering the fact that they were in the Premier League as recently as two years ago.

Meanwhile, Bristol City and Coventry City are priced at 7/2, of which the Robins would be somewhat of a shock due to the quality of their squad and the fact they have Nigel Pearson at the helm, whilst League One champions Hull have the odds of 4/1, as do Luton Town.

Derby County are the favourites to be relegated at 11/8, although as seen in Wayne Rooney's interview following their pre-season friendly game against Salford City, they may struggle to field a squad having being put under a transfer embargo that has prevented them from signing any players this summer.

Other odds to look out for could be Barnsley and Reading to make it into the top six and qualify for the playoffs. Barnsley were beaten semi-finalists last time out to Swansea and have the odds of 5/2, whilst a poor end to the season saw Reading fall short on 70 points and the Royals are priced at 7/2 to make it in the upcoming season.

Fulham are priced at 9/2 to be the top scoring team in the Championship this season, whilst Blackburn who finished as the fifth top scorers last time out with Adam Armstrong have the odds of 33/1 which isn’t unfeasible when you also consider the form of Ben Brereton Diaz of Chile in the Copa America, although they will be without Bradley Dack until January 2022 due to injury problems.