Promotion frontrunners should be opposed in Championship

The Championship is internationally recognised for its unpredictability and this alone is a good enough reason to oppose at least one of the current top three in the race for promotion.

Despite being notorious bottlers, Cardiff are currently priced at an unbackable 1/8 to clinch a Premier League berth for next season, while a recent hot streak has seen a campaign punctuated with inconsistencies overlooked in establishing Leicester’s short odds 10/11 price. Hull come next in the betting, though they aren’t much longer than the Foxes at 5/4 to go up.

Sheffield Wednesday proved how bizarre the second tier can be in their 3-1 taming of the Tigers at the weekend and with ample teams within touching distance of the clubs occupying second and third (while Cardiff’s 10-point cushion between them and the play-off zone hardly deems them untouchable) much better value can be had getting behind the chasing pack.

Leicester are level on points with Middlesbrough (who they meet in their next game) and Crystal Palace, though the pair can be backed at a much longer price than the east Midlands side.

With plenty of football still to be played, either one of these attack-minded sides’ 5/2 price could reap a nice reward come May, despite the dips in form both are currently experiencing.

Watford proved in their confident display and thoroughly deserved victory at the Riverside at the weekend that only a fool would write them off in the promotion race. With just six points separating them from Hull in second in a league as topsy turvy as this, there is an air of appeal surrounding their 7/2.

Then there’s the scramble for a play-off spot where teams who book their place on the back of a late surge tend to fare well.
The likes of Blackburn and Leeds are both priced at 10/1 to go up, though even teams as seemingly out of it as 18/1 shots Bolton could even play themselves into contention if they can string a good run together.

Teams often come from nowhere at the business end of the season and as it grows ever nearer, one of these long-odds bets could easily ensure a tidy earner when the curtain falls in May.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date