Sky Sports’ Don Goodman names Coventry City and Middlesbrough among Championship play-off prediction
Newly-relegated Championship sides and Coventry, Middlesbrough set to compete for Premier League promotion in 2024/25 season.
Burnley, Luton, Sheffield United look strong with experienced managers and key players for promotion push next season.
Goodman predicts Coventry, Middlesbrough will challenge for top spots, emphasising their strong squad development and strategic signings.
Don Goodman has predicted all three newly-relegated Championship sides alongside Coventry City and Middlesbrough to compete for promotion to the Premier League in the upcoming 2024/25 campaign.
Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United appear to be in good health having each sustained the nucleus of their promotion-winning sides two seasons prior. Indeed, Scott Parker, Rob Edwards and Chris Wilder share a combined four Premier League promotions and they’ll only be looking to strengthen their credentials even more next season.
However, Coventry and Boro have also been tipped for promotion contention, having sustainably developed strong squads over the last couple of years.
Don Goodman’s Championship top-six prediction
Although the sheer unpredictability of the Championship renders it quite possibly the hardest division to predict, the Sky Sports pundit has nonetheless tipped all five sides to finish in the top-six ahead of Friday evening’s curtain-raisers.
“Those challenging at the top, you’ve got to say it will be the three relegated clubs because most of the time that happens and certainly at least two of them, are up there,” Goodman explained to FLW (via Grosvenor Sport).
“So Burnley have got a massive squad, which is going to take some managing. I mean, you look at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League and Steve Cooper was pulling his hair out because he had literally too many players.
“That is difficult to manage and organise on a daily basis, just in terms of training and keeping everybody motivated and included.
“So I would expect a lot of players to leave Burnley as they went heavy across the last couple of summers and they have some real quality. They have the likes Luca Koleosho, Lyle Foster and Wilson Odobert.
They’ve got players that were there when they won the league with over 100 points. Scott Parker is a possession-based coach and he’s inherited a very technically gifted group of players that will be able to play possession-based football. So I would expect Burnley to be up there.
“Luton have lost Ross Barkley and Gabe Osho so far, but they’re in a great place. I know they’ve got injuries to deal with at the minute but, for this level, they’ve got massive ability in the likes of Alfie Doughty. I’m surprised a Premier League club hasn’t gone and signed him. I just think he’s excellent.
