Preview for the 2024 EFL Championship Play-Offs

The curtain has fallen on another season of the EFL Championship, marking the end of the regular battles on the pitch. Now, we’re gearing up for the 2024 EFL Championship play-offs and their latest winner predictions.

Leicester City v Ipswich Town 

These two are officially through to the Premier League for the next season. The former triumphantly ended their Championship campaign after getting relegated last season and are now back to tier one of the English football hierarchy; the latter has not played in the Premier League since 2002. The famous Ipswich side are finally back to the top tier after back-to-back promotions from League One.

What about the other contestants who almost made it to the automatic promotion? Leeds and Southampton at some point were in second place and just a couple of points behind Leicester, and it looked like former Premier League sides would prevail against Ipswich who felt like they reached the maximum of their possibilities. Ipswich showed they were a force to reckon with and gave a strong series of performances against mid-table teams, while Leeds and Southampton took points from each other.

The 2024 EFL Championship play-offs, according to the rulebook, are played by teams who placed third to sixth in the table. Classical teams will play it – Leeds United, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion, and Norwich City this season. English football fans are up for some of the most exciting draws in years – this is the magic of the Championship. Third- and sixth-best, and fourth- and fifth-best teams will play semi-finals against each other. The winners enter the Wembley final, where the third promoted team will be chosen.

Norwich City v Leeds United

Norwich lost both games to Leeds with the same score of 1-0, so in the context of the Championship season, it looks like Leeds have this in the bag. Leeds are the favourites to win the last promotion spot to the 2024-25 Premier League season. Additionally, there were 17 points between Leeds and Norwich, so it is a game to lose for Leeds, who are expected to win. According to online sportsbooks in the UK, Leeds has a 6 to 4 chance of being promoted, while Norwich has only a 6 to 1 chance, which is a huge gap.

West Bromwich Albion v Southampton

As with the previous pair, Southampton is on a different level compared to West Bromwich. Southampton won 12 points between those teams in the Championship and both games. West Browmich’s chances to be promoted are equal to Norwich’s – 6 to 1, while Southampton’s are very close to Leeds’s, although with a bit of difference – 8 to 5 according to online gambling sites in the UK.

Wembley Final

Most likely, as betting websites predict, and we do too, Leeds and Southampton will face each other in the final game at Wembley. In this context, Leeds looks like a favourite against the opponents; however, both games in the Championship were won by Southampton with a goal difference of +2. This does not mean that Leeds will lose just based on the last two games, but the previous five years of this team were associated with losing games that were winnable for them. They could have been promoted in the 2018-19 season but drew and lost the last games and precious points; then there was the game against Derby County, where Leeds was allowed to score a goal against them in the semifinals and got eliminated. Leeds’s results show that they have significantly underachieved, and that is why Southampton may win the final game against Leeds if the teams meet each other.

Click here to try the best odds at bet365 Sportsbook