A Championship supercomputer has predicted the final standings in England's second tier, and Leicester City are expected to make an immediate return to the Premier League in style.
Leicester City currently lead the way in the Championship with 39 points from a possible 42, a staggering return for any team, but especially impressive for one coming off a difficult campaign in the top tier. Fellow relegated-rival Leeds United are their next opponents on Friday 3 November, with Enzo Maresca's side looking to stamp their authority on the division with yet another win.
The data cruncher, provided by BonusCodeBets, has predicted the final standings by simulating the entire Championship season 1,000 times. An average points tally is then collated, giving the predicted final table.
That final table, inevitably, has Leicester City comfortably at the top. Not only are the Foxes expected to win the league at a canter, they're also expected to shatter the current points record of 106, held by the 2005/06 Reading team, by accumulating 112 points. That tally would be a record for a side in the second tier, since its inception 131 years ago.
With just one loss on their record already, Leicester are only expected to lose one more game between now and the end of the campaign, too.
Sunderland are predicted to join Leicester in achieving automatic promotion, leaving Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United and Coventry City to battle it out in the play-offs. Coventry are currently 20th in the table, but the supercomputer believes Mark Robins will turn things around between now and the end of the season.
Sheffield Wednesday, QPR and Rotherham United, meanwhile, are all backed for the drop, with the Championship's current bottom three expected to be relegated to League One.
Final Championship 2023/24 table
| Position | Club | Expected points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester City | 112 |
| 2 | Sunderland | 90 |
| 3 | Hull City | 83 |
| 4 | Ipswich Town | 82 |
| 5 | Leeds United | 82 |
| 6 | Coventry City | 81 |
| 7 | Middlesbrough | 78 |
| 8 | Swansea City | 77 |
| 9 | Southampton | 74 |
| 10 | West Brom | 72 |
| 11 | Preston North End | 71 |
| 12 | Millwall | 65 |
| 13 | Bristol City | 61 |
| 14 | Cardiff City | 59 |
| 15 | Norwich City | 59 |
| 16 | Birmingham City | 54 |
| 17 | Blackburn Rovers | 51 |
| 18 | Stoke City | 45 |
| 19 | Watford | 44 |
| 20 | Plymouth Argyle | 40 |
| 21 | Huddersfield | 39 |
| 22 | Sheffield Wednesday | 32 |
| 23 | QPR | 32 |
| 24 | Rotherham | 31 |
