The 2025/26 EFL Championship season is now five games old and, as is typical with this league, there have already been some shock results.
Sheffield United, one of the favourites to be promoted before a ball was kicked, have lost all of their matches so far, and head coach Ruben Selles has already been replaced by Chris Wilder, with the English manager now in his third spell in charge of the Blades. With 41 games to play, though, it would be foolish to write just about any team other than Sheffield Wednesday off just yet.
Indeed, the Blades' rivals have suffered from significant financial issues, and can hardly put a senior squad together at this moment in time. Sadly, it seems as if the Owls are destined to be relegated down to League One, especially given the fact that they have picked up just one point in their opening five matches.
Nonetheless, we will be assessing the EFL Championship outright winner odds and providing regular updates, as they constantly fluctuate on a game by game basis. It will no doubt be interesting to see the changes that occur week on week.
Best EFL Championship outright winner odds
Ipswich 10/3 Coventry 6/1 Southampton 8/1 Middlesbrough 9/1 Birmingham 12/1 West Brom 14/1 Leicester 16/1 Bristol City 20/1 Norwich 25/1 Stoke 25/1
Ipswich – 10/3
Kieran McKenna's Ipswich squad may have dropped points in each of their opening four matches, but considering they have already played fellow Premier League hopefuls Birmingham and Southampton and avoided defeat against two of the other favourites for the Championship title, they will still feel quietly confident.
A 5-0 thumping of Sheffield United at Portman Road just after the September international break showed the rest of the Championship how capable Ipswich are. Indeed, despite a slow start, it is not a surprise to see that the Tractor Boys are still the favourites for the title.
Coventry – 6/1
Frank Lampard did a brilliant job of turning Coventry around last season, and they have started the new campaign in good form, which suggests they will be up there challenging again this season. After recent play-off misery, they will be desperate for automatic promotion this time around but based on their 5-3 win over Derby on matchday two, they are not going to make life easy for themselves.
However, the Sky Blues followed that extraordinary game up with a 7-1 thumping of QPR on home soil. Indeed, if they are as free-scoring as they have shown in the opening few matches of the season, Coventry will be right up there, but can they go one better and gain promotion up to the Premier League?
Southampton – 8/1
Although Southampton trailed Wrexham for a large part of their contest at St Mary's on the opening weekend, Will Still's side dominated the ball and had the bulk of the opportunities. The Saints then did well to come from behind once again to earn a draw at Portman Road, demonstrating the brilliant character within the group.
As such, the Saints deserve to be tipped to become one of Ipswich's nearest challengers at this stage, despite only picking up a total of six points from their opening five league games. It is still early days, and Southampton certainly have a strong squad capable of challenging at the very top.
Middlesbrough – 9/1
The Championship's early pace-setters are Middlesbrough, and so their odds of winning the title have come in substantially. Boro remain unbeaten after five matches, picking up four wins and a draw.
Only time will tell as to whether they can maintain that level of form, but while they are at the top, it is hard to back against them at the moment. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see if Middlesbrough can earn promotion to the Premier League come the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
Who will win the EFL Championship in 2025/26? Here is our prediction
Despite Ipswich being the main favourites, the Championship is often unpredictable, and we just do not see the Tractor Boys running away with the title after losing their best player and scorer this summer in Liam Delap to Chelsea, while Omari Hutchinson has also recently gone to the Premier League himself to join Nottingham Forest.
On the other hand, we like Southampton's new manager, and the Saints certainly have a quality squad for this level. So, we can see Will Still getting the best out of his new team and the EFL Championship trophy being lifted at St Mary's at the end of the 2025/26 season, provided that improvements are made from a defensive standpoint.
Darren is a writer and tipster across a wide array of sports including football, golf, darts and boxing. He counts Keegan Bradley's US PGA Championship win in 2011 as his greatest-ever bet. Darren is also a Chelsea and Hednesford Town fan, as well as a keen golfer and darts player.
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