Championship RABs & Specials Ahead of the 2023/24 Season

Here we take a look at some of Sky Bet's RequestABets and Specials ahead of the upcoming 2023/24 Championship season.

During the 2022/23 campaign, Sunderland exceeded expectations as a newly promoted club by recording a sixth-placed finish. Many believe that the Black Cats have the capability to compete for a play-off place once again having added a series of young talent such as Jobe Bellingham, Luis Semedo, Nectarios Triantis and more.

Watford are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 11th-place finish under the management of Valerien Ismael. The Hornets were one of the pre-season favourites to win the title last season, however, following a series of injuries and imbalances in the squad. They will be hoping that former Toulouse striker Rhys Healey can be an adequate replacement for Joao Pedro.

Southampton are one of the pre-season favourites to earn promotion back to the Premier League, especially when considering that the Saints have managed to retain the majority of their squad which includes the likes of James Ward-Prowse.

Sunderland are expected to challenge for the play-offs once again so a top-half finish should come off, while Plymouth Argyle are one of the favourites to be relegated having earned promotion from League One last time out.

Leicester City are the favourites to win the Championship in the 2023/24 season despite losing James Maddison to Tottenham, while a move for Harvey Barnes also looks probable. The Foxes have recruited well so far though, having acquired the likes of Conor Coady and Harry Winks to a squad that is packed with quality players such as Wilfried Ndidi and Jamie Vardy.

As previously mentioned, Plymouth are one of the favourites to be relegated due to being a newly-promoted side, on top of the fact that they are yet to make a significant amount of changes to their playing staff.

Rotherham finished just six points above the relegation zone last season, however, this statistic is slightly skewed when considering Reading’s six-point deduction last season.

Leeds and Leicester City are expected to score a hat full of goals this season, with the former having the likes of Patrick Bamford, Rodrigo, Willy Gnonto, Luis Sinisterra and more on their books, while the Foxes will be expected to outscore plenty of their opponents with Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho arguably being the Championship’s deadliest strike pairing on paper.

Middlesbrough managed to score a total of 84 goals in 46 games last season having made significant improvements since the arrival of Michael Carrick.

Southampton also find themselves in the same boat as Leicester and Leeds, as they have a set-piece specialist in Ward-Prowse, while the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Che Adams and Adam Armstrong should all be able to find their feet in the Championship.

Arguably, Leeds and Leicester have the two strongest squads entering the Championship when considering that they finished as the top two relegated teams in the Premier League last season.

Having impressed under Carrick, Middlesbrough will be expected to potentially challenge for the automatic places too alongside Southampton who should fancy their chances of returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

As previously mentioned, Rotherham were tediously close to being relegated last season and will have to step up their game if they are to avoid being a relegation candidate in the 2023/24 season.

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