Who can stop Frank Lampard's Coventry City reaching the Premier League? Assessing the Championship's leading promotion contenders

Who can stop Coventry City's charge towards the Premier League? Frank Lampard's side are top of the Championship, six points clear of second-placed Middlesbrough and 11 ahead of Ipswich Town in third.

Here, DAZN News reporter Ross Heppenstall  assesses the runners and riders in the promotion race as the Championship reaches the halfway stage on Boxing Day.

Automatic promotion contenders

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Coventry have enjoyed an outstanding first half to the season, winning 14 of their 22 Championship games so far and losing just two.

Buoyed by the firepower of Brandon Thomas-Asante and Haji Wright, Lampard’s men are scoring goals for fun and will clearly take some stopping given their 11-point advantage over third-placed Ipswich.

Since their Premier League relegation in 2001, the Sky Blues have been through some difficult times, but they came close to a Premier League return after reaching the Championship play-off final in 2023 before losing to Luton Town on penalties.

They reached the Championship play-off semi-final last season, losing to Sunderland.

Middlesbrough in second are Coventry’s nearest challengers and appear a decent bet to go up automatically.

Although Rob Edwards jumped ship for Wolves last month, Kim Hellberg has made a huge impression since replacing him.

Ipswich Town were in the Premier League last season and have started to show their mettle in the Championship.

Three wins from their last four have taken the Tractor Boys up to third place.

Prediction for the top two: Coventry to go up as champions and Middlesbrough to finish second

 

Play-off candidates

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In a league as competitive and at times crazy as the Championship, a lot can and no doubt will change between now and next spring.

Ipswich certainly have the quality to finish in the top six but below them the field is wide open.

Upwardly mobile Hull City and Preston North End currently occupy fourth and fifth place respectively in the division with Millwall in sixth.

Millwall have threatened to gatecrash the top six in recent season and in Alex Neil they have a hugely driven manager with a proven track record of winning promotion.

In-form Queens Park Rangers have emerged as a coming force having won five of their last seven games to climb to seventh.

Meanwhile, teams such as Stoke City, Bristol City, Watford, Southampton, Derby County and Leicester City also in touching distance, so the field really is wide open in the play-off race.

Prediction for play-off places: Ipswich 3rd, Millwall 4th, Hull 5th, QPR 6th

 

Potential dark horses

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Sometimes a side can come from nowhere to finish in the top six and end up winning the Championship play-off final.

It is all about hitting form at the right time and Southampton, Derby and Leicester are teams to keep an eye on.

So too are Sheffield United, who agonisingly missed out on promotion last season after losing to Sunderland in the promotion decider at Wembley.

The Blades made a disastrous start to this season which saw Ruben Selles sacked.

Yet Chris Wilder, a boyhood United fan, is a wily operator and a succesful January transfer window could potentially see his men make a late play-off charge.

Prediction for an outside bet: Sheffield United

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