Championship: Leeds and Bristol City the big movers of the season
Published:
Having already covered how the odds have fluctuated in Leagues One and Two, now we turn our attention to the Championship.
Nobody is surprised to see Newcastle sitting in the automatic promotion spots, or Rotherham in the bottom three, and on the whole our traders appear to have called the pre-season odds remarkably well.
Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading can each find odds today almost identical to the ones on offer in pre-season.
But there are still a few sides who have caught everyone by surprise, one of whom is Leeds.
Given their recent history, it seemed unlikely Garry Monk would last long enough to bring about much change at Elland Road when appointed coach in the summer, but the former Swansea manager has done a remarkable job so far.
After one win from their opening six games of the campaign, Monk’s time looked up, and their pre-season odds of going up had grown to 25/1.
But after their win over Reading this week, the Whites sit fifth and are now a much more respectable 8/1 to return to the Premier League.
Over in Norfolk, Norwich’s odds have drifted steadily from an assured 8/11 pre-season to 5/2 today, thanks largely to a failure to win any of their last five away games.
Newcastle have consolidated their favourites odds of 4/7 into 1/25, while Brighton’s 7/2 price has shortened into 2/9.
Sweeping down into the relegation battle, Rotherham have done little to dispel their 11/5 pre-season odds for the drop, and the Millers are now all-but doomed at 1/100.
The big movers here – for the right reasons – are Bristol City. The Robins began the campaign with odds of 9/2 to end up in the bottom three, but despite a run of one win in five, our traders have seen enough to extend their odds today to 25/1.
But while it’s comforting news for the Ashton Gate faithful, these are worrying days for former Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers.
The Ewood Park outfit’s pre-season odds of 4/1 to go down weren’t exactly confidence-inducing, but the Lancashire club are now just Evens to be playing third tier football for the first time since 1980.
Championship market movers
Leeds to be promoted – 25/1 > 9/1
Norwich to be promoted – 8/11 > 5/2
Wolves to be promoted – 4/1 > 66/1
Blackburn to be relegated – 4/1 > Evens
Bristol City to be relegated – 9/2 > 25/1
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
