talkSPORT Championship outright tips, expert advice and predictions for 2026/27 season

Teams dropping down from the Premier League have a mixed recent record in the Championship and West Ham, Wolves and Burnley will be hoping they can pull an Ipswich – promoted to the top flight – rather than a Leicester – suffered back-to-back relegations and now find themselves in League One – in the 2026-27 campaign. 

Big things are expected of the Hammers, in particular, although a strong chasing pack made up of their fellow relegated sides, Middlesbrough, Southampton, Norwich and bitter rivals Millwall, could make life difficult. 

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Championship Outright Tips

West Ham to win the Championship @ 7/4
Blackburn to be relegated @ 4/1
Cyle Larin top goalscorer @ 25/1

Hammers heading back up

Not since Newcastle in 2016-17 has a team been as short for the Championship title as West Ham and while the Hammers will have their doubters, they can follow the Magpies’ blueprint to oblige. 

Like Newcastle with Rafa Benitez 10 years ago, West Ham have kept hold of a Premier League-level manager in Nuno Espirito Santo, and that is a huge boost. 

News of his retention was quickly followed by an unbelievable announcement confirming that England international Jarrod Bowen would be staying, too. 

Add in Konstantinos Mavropanos, Kyle Walker-Peters and James Ward-Prowse and you begin to see why the Hammers are so short for glory. 

They got the season off to a fine start with a commanding 3-1 victory over Portsmouth in the EFL Cup, and the fact they earned that success with only one new signing and while never really getting out of second gear should have their rivals worried. 

Wolves and Burnley will need time to settle under new managers Cesar Peixoto and Nicky Hayen, further points deductions loom over Southampton, and Middlesbrough lack the overall quality of the East Londoners, suggesting West Ham should make light work of this division. 

Rovers in serious relegation danger

At the other end, tight-fisted Blackburn are hoping the return of fan favourite Tony Mowbray will be enough to keep them up. Chances are it probably won’t be. 

Mowbray failed in his last job, being sacked by West Brom after a run of five wins in 17 games, while a lack of new faces means pretty much the same squad which managed only three victories in their final 14 matches of last season is in for another tough campaign. 

Rovers survived by only five points last term but with the fallen giants standing still and those likely to be around them – Charlton, Portsmouth, West Brom and promoted duo Cardiff and Bolton – bringing in lots of talent, their stagnation may finally see them swallowed up into League One. 

Larin likely to star for Saints

A four-point deduction means Southampton start the season on the back foot but their need to make up that deficit should lead to an increase in intensity. 

That should have the rest of the league trembling given no team has scored more Championship goals than their 44 in 2026 and with that in mind, siding with a Saints striker to top the scoring charts is the way to go. 

Tonda Eckert has a few forwards to choose from, though it is hard to see Damion Downs or Cameron Archer preventing Cyle Larin from starting given his excellent summer. 

The Canadian scored two goals in just 190 minutes at the World Cup following a return of a strike every 107 minutes for Saints in the Championship.

Larin came off the bench to score at Colchester in the EFL Cup first round in Southampton’s curtain-raiser and the Canadian goal machine looks a huge price to land top-goalscorer honours this term.

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Odds correct at time of publish and subject to change.

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