Championship title odds: Maresca’s Leicester favourites to be champions
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Championship title odds and contenders
The 2023-24 EFL season gets under way this weekend so we’re taking a look at the latest Championship title odds which sees all three relegated clubs take up the top three places in the market.
Southampton have appointed Russell Martin as their new manager and are 7/1 third favourites behind Leicester and Leeds ahead of the first match of the season, a Friday night kick-off against promoted Sheffield Wednesday.
Here, we look at the main contenders to be playing in the Premier League next season in what is expected to be a very competitive campaign.
Leicester
Enzo Maresca left the safety of being Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City to take on the challenge of being the main man at Leicester, whose nine-year stay in the top flight ended last season.
Brendan Rodgers was sacked at the start of April on the back of a seven-game winless run which saw them drop into the bottom three and his replacement Dean Smith was unable to keep the Foxes up.
The Foxes have lost the likes of Youri Tielemans, James Maddison and Harvey Barnes but some big names remain while Conor Coady and Harry Winks look smart signings at this level.
Leicester kick off their campaign against play-off finalists Coventry, Huddersfield, Cardiff and Rotherham, so they have the opportunity to get off to a good start.
Leeds
United have turned to Daniel Farke as their new manager after Sam Allardyce failed to keep Leeds in the Premier League during his four games in charge.
The former Norwich boss knows what it takes to win the Championship, having done so twice with the Canaries, but has a rebuilding job on his hands with plenty of players having moved on following relegation from the top flight.
Leeds start the season with home games against Cardiff and West Brom in between a trip to Birmingham but have a very tough run-in so will need to take advantage of a reasonably easy start to the campaign.
Southampton
Saints’ 11-year stay in the Premier League ended with a bottom-placed finish in a chaotic season which saw three managers at the helm.
Martin is the latest man to resurrect Southampton’s fortunes on a three-year contract having steered Swansea to 10th place with minimal backing last season and the youngest squad in the division.
Jason Wilcox left Manchester City to join the club as director of football and his task will be replacing the likes of Theo Walcott and Mohamed Elyounoussi, who have left St Mary’s, while James Ward-Prowse is expected to depart soon too.
Middlesbrough
Michael Carrick transformed Boro when he replaced Chris Wilder as manager, leading them to the play-offs, but they fell just short in a 1-0 aggregate defeat to Coventry in the semi-finals.
Carrick won 18 of his 30 games in charge playing an entertaining brand of football and expectations are high the former Manchester United midfielder can get over the line this season.
Middlesbrough face Millwall, Coventry, Huddersfield, West Brom and QPR in their opening five matches.
Norwich
The Canaries were the pre-season favourites for an immediate return to the Premier League 12 months ago but one win in their final 11 games saw them finish in the bottom half of the table.
Finland striker Teemu Pukki has left after a prolific five years at the club but Norwich brought in Ashley Barnes on a free transfer and bolstered their defence by signing Shane Duffy and Jack Stacey.
David Wagner’s side start their campaign at home to Hull followed by a trip to Southampton but fans will have pencilled December 16 in their diaries for the trip to Ipswich in the first East Anglian derby in five years, with the return at Carrow Road set for April 6.
Best of the rest
Ipswich, like their Anglian neighbours, are 14/1 on their return to the Championship but having finished second in League One last season, going one better in the second tier looks a tall order.
Sunderland, Watford and West Brom are all expected to be in promotion contention and are 16/1 in the Championship winner odds.
The Black Cats grabbed the last play-off spot on the final day of the season thanks to Millwall’s capitulation against Blackburn but lost to Luton in the semi-finals.
Big things were expected of Watford and West Brom last season but the Hornets only just managed to finish inside the top half after another season which saw managers come and go.
Rob Edwards, Slaven Bilic and Wilder all had unsuccessful spells at Vicarage Road, with ex-Barnsley boss Valerien Ismael the latest man tasked with returning Watford to the big time.
Carlos Corberan sparked the Baggies into life following the dismissal of Steve Bruce and could be one of the teams to watch but have had a difficult summer in the transfer market.
Stoke failed to win any of their last seven matches to finish in 16th spot and Alex Neil’s side are 20/1 to win the title, with play-off runners-up Coventry 25/1 while Hull and Sheffield Wednesday are priced at 33/1.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
