By Ben Brown (@Ben_Brown_99)
As the first international break of the season approaches, the Championship’s first six rounds of fixtures have, as usual, given little indication as to what will be the final outcome. Swansea City find themselves at the top of the pile after their last gasp victory over Leeds at Elland Road, but with so long still to go, I’ll look into who I feel will be in the promotion and playoff spots after 46 games, and who will be the 3 teams heading down to the third tier.
Title: Fulham
Recently relegated from the top flight, the Cottagers have managed to keep key players and add some undoubted quality in the areas they lacked potency last season.
Ivan Cavaleiro and Anthony Knockaert are arguably the best wide man partnership in the league, and with Aleksandar Mitrović being a striker with 17 goals in his last 23 Championship appearances, they certainly aren’t going to struggle for goals.
Harry Arter and Kevin McDonald provide the tireless workhorses in midfield which allow Tom Cairney to show the creative spark which made him such a pivotal figure in their promotion from this level two seasons ago, and he will undoubtedly be key once more as his side look to return to the top flight at the first time of asking.
The Achilles heel for Fulham this year could be the defence which was so frail last year, conceding an average of just over 2 goals a game as they tumbled out of the Premier League with a whimper.
However, I expect Scott Parker’s men will be able to deal with the drop in quality of attacks they come against this year, and even when they can’t I think they have so much quality going forward they can simply adopt a ‘we’ll score more than you will’ mentality to see them through tougher games.
For that reason alone I’m backing them to head straight back up as champions.
Promotion: Leeds United
As a Leeds fan, this is an opinion which I have spent countless hours juggling back and forth in my mind, unable to decide on a final answer. With it all considered I have finally decided that if it doesn’t happen this year, then it never will.
After coming so agonizingly close last season, it’s now or never as Marcelo Bielsa will almost certainly seek pastures new if this football club stays in the second tier of English football for its Centenary season.
It’s been a busy transfer window with much of the deadwood leaving and prominent players such as Kemar Roofe and Pontus Jansson also having departed to help balance the books, but along with those losses have come more than able replacements.
Ben White has settled in seamlessly to a back line which threatened to be severely weakened, and in Helder Costa and Eddie Nketiah a proven championship quality winger and an exciting young forward have been added to an already strong attacking lineup. Pablo Hernández when he’s in the mood is simply too good for this level even at his senior age, and many members of this squad have come on leaps and bounds under Bielsa’s tutelage.
The problem for Leeds was never an inability to create chances, it was finishing them off that was the problem.
With a year of this unfamiliar fast paced system now under the belts for the majority of these players, i’m backing them to find a way to win those games that would allude them last year, therefore seeing them over the line this time and back into the promised land.
Playoff Winners: West Brom
The Baggies like Leeds suffered heartbreak in the playoffs last year, but i’m backing them to go one better this time and win that lucrative promotion at Wembley.
They’ve lost their prolific strike partnership of Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez from last season but Charlie Austin is a real coup for this level, and Kenneth Zohore has shown early signs of promise when I initially had doubts whether he’d be up to the task.
Semi Ajayi is a very astute signing and one I was disappointed Leeds didn’t pursue after he looked very impressive in a distinctly average Rotherham side last year, and the Baggies still possess undoubted strength at this level through names such as Jake Livermore and Matty Phillips.
Slaven Bilić had a very successful spell at another westerly named football club, and I think with his return to English football management he can be looking forward to another one over the course of this campaign, one which should in my opinion end with him lifting the playoff final trophy.
Playoffs: Swansea City
What an early surprise package Swansea City have been to this Championship season. Many, including myself, expected the Swans to struggle this campaign having lost both their highly thought of manager Graham Potter and crucial members of the first team in the shape of Dan James and talismanic forward Oli McBurnie, but instead that seems to have sprung them into a new lease of life.
Steve Cooper was a bit of a surprise appointment given his lack of experience with senior football management, but the players have clearly bought into his philosophy and have put an early stamp down to the rest of the sides in the Championship this year that they are not to be taken lightly.
The return from the wilderness of players such as Borja Bastón and Andre Ayew have been a welcome boost and the former has already hit the ground running with 5 goals in 6 games so far this campaign, goals which have helped his side to top the pile at this early stage.
Their positive start is what has made me change my initial opinion and give them a playoff spot when I had earlier had them down as nothing better than a mid table side. I do feel over the course of a long and grueling campaign that this squad could struggle with injuries and suspensions, and i’m not sure they’d be able to keep it going for 46 games.
Therefore i’m backing them to make the playoffs but ultimately fall short. Steve Cooper has undoubtedly brought positivity back to The Liberty, but I don’t see it being enough to drag them back to the top flight after 2 years away.
Nottingham Forest
After investing heavily last year it was a disappointing season for Forest who finished way below many peoples expectations. Aitor Karanka was surprisingly given the sack in January and the return of club legend Martin O’Niell failed to spark an upturn in fortunes.
Sabri Lamouchi is the latest face to take the managerial hotseat at Forest, and the club have recruited heavily once again in the window in an attempt to launch an assault on the upper reaches of the table. Their opening day loss to West Brom remains their only defeat so far this campaign, picking up impressive points at promotion favourites Fulham and Leeds along the way.
Lewis Grabban has always scored plentiful amounts of goals at this level and he now has plenty around him to carry that burden, the squad looking a lot more balanced then it has in previous years.
However Lamouchi’s lack of experience in English football I feel will come back to bite him later on in the campaign when it’s time to grind out results, and when I look at his squad compared to West Brom’s, I don’t see as much quality and grit. Forest will have a good year, but I expect them to be that unfortunate side who suffers heartbreak at Wembley.
QPR
The last playoff spot and one which required a lot of internal debate before I came up with an answer. As a bit of a left field suggestion i’m going to put forward Queens Park Rangers as the side to claim that last playoff slot.
A loss against high flying Swansea and a Bristol City side also expected to be there or thereabouts are no causes for concern, and their comeback against Sheffield Wednesday in their most recent game at Hillsborough was very impressive.
A side who’s troubles mainly came from throwing money at incompetent players have been more streetwise in this transfer window, building up a strong side through smart free transfers and astute loans which have made them to be looking up the table rather than down. Jordan Hugill and Nahki Wells should be able to cause problems for any Championship defence, and Eberechi Eze has shown early signs that this could be his breakthrough year, so they certainly won’t struggle going forward.
Mark Warburton is a manager who has plenty of experience at this level, and his appointment should help steady what has often been a pretty shaky ship. I don’t expect QPR to achieve success in the playoffs, but I certainly think they will surprise more than few people this year.
Relegation: Wigan Athletic
Always one of them sides teetering on the edge of relegation, Wigan picked up some much needed late season form previously to ensure they secured their second tier status with what ended up being relative comfort.
This season has started as many predicted for the Latics, languishing just inside the relegation zone in what looks like will be another season of struggle.
Nick Powell was a big loss to Stoke City during the summer, a man who when fit was a talismanic figure for this side and behind much of their positive attacking play.
As usual Paul Cook has had to operate on a shoe string transfer budget to bring in some new faces, and the additions of experienced faces David Marshall and Charlie Mulgrew will undoubtedly make sure they are well organised.
Jamal Lowe was an exciting player for Portsmouth in League One but it remains to be seen whether he can replicate that at this level, and the same question marks remain over new striker Keiffer Moore who’s come in from Barnsley.
Paul Cook has done a magnificent job at Wigan over the last couple of seasons, getting them back up to the Championship and staying there, but I think this squad maybe this year will just lack that bit of quality to go toe to toe with many of their rivals. Therefore i’m tipping them to return to the third tier after a short spell away.
Huddersfield Town
Now this one was a tough one. Logically speaking the prospect of back to back relegation’s seems ludicrous but, with the state of things at Huddersfield at the moment, it is a genuine prospect.
Jan Siewert was thrown in at the managerial deep end when taking over in January 2019 and after one win in nineteen games the German was given his marching orders after the first three league games of this season. A new manager has yet to be found and caretaker Mark Hudson has been unable to change the clubs fortunes, currently only avoiding bottom spot on goal difference.
That’s the main problem this Huddersfield side seems to have kept from last season, their inability at finding any sort of goalscoring form.
Karlan Grant ended as their top goalscorer last season despite joining in January and it once again looks as though he will be the main man Town will look to give any chance of success this year.
With the way they’ve performed so far this campaign his biggest achievement would be to keep this side in the second tier.
Already struggling from last year, the squad has been severely weakened by departures, with no less than 12 senior players leaving the club during the summer to leave the squad looking extremely fragile.
This team needs a manager and fast, but with the difficult circumstances it’ll be a hell of a job for whoever decides to take it on.
I simply don’t see this Huddersfield Town side scoring enough goals, and it’s for that reason i’m expecting them to suffer back to back relegation’s.
Barnsley
A bit of a yo-yo side for the last few seasons, I expect that trend to continue at Oakwell this season. Daniel Stendel did a superb job to bring the Tykes back up to the Championship last year, playing some exciting football along the way.
A surprise opening day victory against Fulham has been pretty much all to cheer for so far this season however, it remaining their only victory after six league games and also suffering an embarrassing first round 3-0 Carabao Cup loss to Carlisle.
The loss of defensive pairing Ethan Pinnock and Liam Lindsay has been hardfelt, and the departure of keeper Adam Davies has left them reliant on young new arrival Brad Collins between the sticks.
The emphasis in the transfer market has clearly been on youth with only one player over 23 having come through the door, which suggests more of a long term project is being planned behind the scenes. Whether these fresh faces will be ready for Championship football just yet i’m not so sure.
I expect Barnsley to be a fun and energetic side to watch as they were last year, but their limitations in the transfer market mean that I feel an immediate return to the third tier is the most likely outcome for their season.
By Ben Brown (@Ben_Brown_99)
(Featured Image Credit: Bein Sports)
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