Enter the Void: Can Anyone Dominate the Championship as the Relegated EPL Sides Struggle?

You know the drill by now.

The three teams relegated from the Premier League, emboldened by their parachute payments, trim the fat from their squad and return leaner and meaner for the Championship 2025/26 promotion race in the following campaign.

At least one of the relegated sides has been promoted again the following year in eight of the last ten seasons, meaning that it would be a statistical anomaly if none of Ipswich Town, Southampton or Leicester City ascended back to the Premier League at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.

But, small sample alert! That trio find themselves in relatively dire straits early on in the campaign. With four rounds of Championship games played, Ipswich are winless (W0 D3 L1), Southampton (W1 D2 L1) have fared little better and Leicester, while claiming nine points from their four outings thus far, have relied upon two wonder goals from Abdul Fatawu in a pair of narrow victories.

There is, seemingly, a void at the top of the Championship, which has been confirmed by the betting odds. The three teams mentioned have all drifted in the League Winner market, while a handful of others that have caught the eye early on have shortened accordingly.

So who, other than the relegated trio, could go on and win the Championship this term?

Coventry City

Marginal gains could be enough to propel Coventry City to promotion this season, given that they finished fifth in the table in 2024/25.

In fact, had Sunderland’s Dan Ballard not scored an injury time header for the Black Cats against Coventry in the play-off semi-final, the Sky Blues could have been lining up in the Wembley final.

Crucially, Frank Lampard was able to keep most of that squad intact, with key figures like Haji Wright, Jack Rudoni and Bobby Thomas opting to stay at Coventry instead of seeking pastures new.

And, so far at least, Lampard has been rewarded by the loyalty of his charges. Two wins and a pair of draws have kept their unbeaten start in place, with those two victories,5-3 over Derby County and 7-1 against QPR, remarkable for contrasting reasons.The Sky Blues racked up a whopping 3.24 of xG against Derby, with 2.45 of that coming from non-penalty sources. In short, their attacking play was nothing short of unstoppable.

Against QPR, Coventry notched seven times from just eight shots on target, incredibly deadly or a freak day at the office? You can decide for yourself.

There is clearly a confidence and a bullishness to this Coventry team, which is a quality that all promoted sides share. It helps them to win points from losing positions; an air of ‘we cannot be beaten’ certainly never goes amiss.

They will be hoping to get the job done automatically, but if they do have to face the play-offs at least the Midlanders have experience under their belt… as well as a sense of unfinished business.

Middlesbrough

Some bookmakers were offering odds of 40/1 on Middlesbrough to win the Championship this season… they’re not anymore.

The North East outfit are the second tier’s only perfect team: four games, four wins and just one goal conceded as Rob Edwards sets to work with his new players.

Edwards, you may recall, is a promotion specialist. He guided Luton Town to third place in the Championship in the 2022/23 season, before helping the Hatters to a play-off final victory over… you guessed it, Coventry City.

Before that, Edwards took Forest Green Rovers to League One for the first time in the club’s history, so this is a head coach that knows how to secure ascension.

Whether he has the troops to achieve that at Middlesborough remains to be seen, although warding off bids for Hayden Hackney, one of the Championship’s most technically gifted players, during the transfer window was a masterstroke.

The likes of Matt Targett and Callum Brittain add quality in wide areas, while Morgan Whittaker has a little bit of X Factor cutting in from the right-hand side.

Do Boro have a prolific goalscorer that will make promotion all the easier to attain? Perhaps not. But in Edwards, they at least have a head coach with an outstanding track record of delivering against the odds.

Birmingham City

Plenty of money came in for Birmingham City to secure back-to-back promotions during pre-season.

Their rich American owners are certainly willing to bankroll immediate success, with £30 million spent during their League One triumph, a sum unheard of at that level.

Tom Brady and co have also opened their chequebooks in 2025/26, albeit a more respectable £12 million, alongside some eye-catching loans and free transfers.

The Blues haven’t quite adapted to life in the second tier as comfortably as most expected. They have taken one point from two games against possible promotion rivals Ipswich and Leicester, while Blackburn and Oxford were nudged aside by a solitary goal, the former coming in the 98th minute.

There’s upside and scope for improvement at Birmingham, but whether they’ll be able to make that leap from League One to the Premier League in two seasons remains to be seen.

West Brom

It would be a real underdog story if West Brom were to secure promotion this term.

But with ten points earned from a possible 12 so far, there’s an intrigue and an interest in Ryan Mason’s overhaul of the Baggies.

Ten players left for free or a fee in the summer, with six permanent signings and three loans coming in to replace them. The loss of Tom Fellows, to Southampton, no less, and Torbjorn Heggem will hurt, but in their stead comes a pair of experienced, rock solid centre backs in Chris Mepham and Nat Phillips.

The question of the Baggies, as it was of Middlesborough, is do they have that prolific striker that makes promotion so much easier to attain. New signing Aune Heggebo has shown capability in the Norwegian Eliteserien, but can he do it in the madcap English Championship?

But, as ever in the second tier of English football, it’s perhaps best to expect the unexpected.

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