Brighton now joint-favourites for Championship title after Newcastle slip

While Newcastle United have been favourites to win the Championship seemingly all-season long, the Magpies face a very real challenge now from former boss Chris Hughton and his Brighton & Hove Albion flyers.

The Seagulls sit top of the standings, two points clear with five games to go after defeating Queens Park Rangers last Friday.

They then had the luxury of sitting back and watching the Toon suffer a surprise 2-1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday 24 hours later.

And it means our traders have re-priced Brighton as joint favourites to win the league at 5/6.

It’s a remarkable run for Hughton’s side, who were 5/1 just a month ago.

Conversely, Newcastle were 1/6 favourites back then.

But arguably the best news for Brighton came on Saturday afternoon, when Huddersfield lost to Nottingham Forest.

The result leaves the Seagulls with a 12-point gap to the Terriers, although the Yorkshire outfit do have a game in hand.

David Wagner’s side can now only achieve a maximum of 92 points however, while Brighton are already on 86.

And with Hughton’s men not playing until 17:00 this Friday, they will already know what’s required from whatever Huddersfield achieve in their afternoon clash versus the improved Preston.

After suffering the heartache of missing out on automatic promotion last season due to goal difference, this Brighton side have benefitted from that experience and now surely have one foot in the Premier League.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing