Soccer
Are Frank Lampard’s Coventry City destined for the Premier League and who could join them? Assessing the Championship’s leading promotion contenders
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Who can stop Coventry City’s quest to reach the Premier League ? Frank Lampard’s side are top of the Championship, a point clear of Middlesbrough after beating them on Monday night, and six ahead of Millwall in third.
Here, DAZN News reporter Ross Heppenstall assesses the runners and riders as the Championship promotion race intensifies.
Automatic promotion contenders
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Coventry enjoyed an outstanding first half to the season, winning 15 of their first 23 Championship games and losing just two.
The Sky Blues stormed 13 points clear of third place at the midway point in the season as they bid for a long-awaited return to the top flight.
Since their Premier League relegation in 2001, the Midlands outfit have been through some difficult times, but they came close to a return after reaching the Championship play-off final in 2023 before losing to Luton Town on penalties.
They reached the Championship play-off semi-final last season, losing to Sunderland.
Buoyed by the firepower of Brandon Thomas-Asante and Haji Wright, Lampard’s men have looked promotion favourites for much of the campaign.
They had a recent wobble, though, and saw their long-held lead at the top of the table wiped out when Middlesbrough won 2-1 at Sheffield United last week.
That success marked a sixth straight league win for Kim Hellberg’s side and took them above Coventry into top spot.
The Sky Blues, though, beat Boro for the second time this season on Monday night to return to the summit and reclaim their tag as title favourites.
Wright scored a hat-trick against the Teessiders to take his tally for the season to 16.
Boro slipped back to second but five points ahead of third-placed Millwall, who have been one of the stories of the season.
Alex Neil is no stranger to a promotion push and his men look a decent bet for at least a play-off place and their top-two hopes remain alive.
The same can be said of fourth-placed Ipswich Town, who have two games in hand on the three sides above them and will quietly fancy their chances of an automatic Premier League return.
Prediction for the top two: Coventry to go up as champions and Middlesbrough to finish second
Play-off candidates
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Ipswich are level on points with Hull City in fifth with Derby County, Preston North End, Wrexham, Bristol City, Southampton, Birmingham City, Watford and QPR all in the mix for a top-six finish.
In a league as competitive and at times crazy as the Championship, a lot can and no doubt will change between now and the end of the season.
The field really is wide open in the play-off race but Millwall, Ipswich and Hull look nailed on for a top-six finish.
Phil Parkinson's big-spending Wrexham could certainly sneak in there too.
Prediction for play-off places: Ipswich 3rd, Millwall 4th, Hull 5th, Wrexham 6th
Potential dark horses
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Sometimes a side can come from nowhere to finish in the top six and end up winning the Championship play-off final.
It is all about hitting form at the right time and the likes of Bristol City, Southampton, Birmingham, Watford and QPR are teams to keep an eye on.
So too are Sheffield United, who agonisingly missed out on promotion last season after losing to Sunderland in the promotion decider at Wembley.
The Blades made a disastrous start to this season which saw Ruben Selles sacked.
Yet Chris Wilder, a boyhood United fan, is a wily operator and recently signed Kalvin Phillips on loan from Manchester City.
He helped the Blades to a potentially priceless 1-0 win at Portsmouth last weekend and, with Patrick Bamford up front, Wilder’s side have a chance of making a late play-off charge.
Six points adrift of the play-off places, they have all it do but certainly cannot be discounted given the quality in their ranks.
Prediction for an outside bet: Sheffield United
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