Championship winner betting 2011/12

This season the Championship title looks to be more fiercely contested than previous years. In past seasons, there have been 1 or 2 teams significantly stronger than the rest, whereas last year the league looked fairly even, this season the league looks stronger than ever with 3 or 4 teams looking capable of winning the title. There is of course the 3 relegated teams in Birmingham, West Ham and Blackpool, whilst Leicester have invested heavily to win promotion and of course last year’s losing play off finalists Reading that will all be looking towards that top spot in the league.

Championship winner odds

Leicester – 5.5 Betfred
The current favourites to win the Npower Championship next season are Leicester City, and they are best priced at 5.5 with various bookmakers such as Betfred and Paddy Power. Under Sven-Goran Eriksson they only managed to finish just above mid-table last season, but plenty of big signings such as Paul Konchesky, David Nugent and Matt Mills have propelled them to favourites. Although they may need one more proven goal scorer to get 20 plus in the league, and it is still uncertain whether the players will blend together, they look good value for the favourites tag at the moment.

West Ham – 5.5 Sportingbet
West Ham United are joint favourites with Leicester to win the title next year, with a similar price of around 5.5 also available from many bookmakers such as Sportingbet and BlueSq. The Hammers actually look a better bet at the moment as their squad appears to have more strength in depth. Of course they were always going to be around the favourites after suffering relegation last season, but new manager Sam Allardyce is experienced in getting results and knows the division after achieving promotion with Bolton. They have also made an impressive big money signing in Kevin Nolan, who can get plenty of goals from midfield, and have so far managed to hang on to a lot of their squad from last year. Of course though, these odds may change slightly if the Hammers do lose a lot of their big names, but that looks unlikely as they will be attempting to emulate what Newcastle achieved a couple of years ago.

Birmingham – 15.0 Coral
Birmingham are also among the favourites for the Npower Championship title but are slightly longer odds and best priced at 15.0 at Coral. City appear to be longer odds as they have lost quite a few more high profile players than the other relegated teams, with Roger Johnson, Craig Gardener, Lee Bowyer all leaving the club and Barry Ferguson, Nikola Zigic and Cameron Jerome still expected to follow them out the door. Birmingham also have the Europa League to compete in after winning the Carling Cup last season which will only hinder their chances in the league with the potential for long midweek trips across Europe. They do though, have a good manager in Chris Hughton who has experience in winning promotion from this league with Newcastle.

Those are the main 3 contenders for the Npower Championship title, but there are also a few outsiders that are worth a look at and could well be in with a chance if they have a good season. Nottingham Forest are one of those teams, they’ve been in and around the playoffs the last couple of seasons and under new manager Steve McClaren are expected to be challenging again. A couple of good signings in Jonathan Greening and Andy Reid may well help them on their way and could be a good bet at 15.0 with bet365. Reading are another side who could well be in for a good season after missing out in the Play Off final last season. They have though, lost their captain and centre back Matt Mills to Leicester, and they will be looking to use the money from that transfer to find a replacement.

Read our Championship relegation betting article and Championship golden boot article here.

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