Former Hull City striker Dean Windass predicts that Middlesbrough, Swansea City, and Bristol City will be promoted from the Championship this season.

The new Championship season has begun, and while it is still in its early stages, it already appears to be one of the most open and unpredictable divisions in recent memory.

Middlesbrough, Swansea City, and Bristol City will have the Championship promotion dream.

Relegated trio West Ham United, Burnley, and Wolverhampton Wanderers were among the promotion favourites going into the season, but they have all showed flaws in the first few weeks, while a number of possible surprises have surfaced.

Middlesbrough faced heartbreak when they were defeated 1-0 by Hull City in last season’s play-off final, but they have spent heavily in order to earn promotion this time around, bringing in Radek Vitek, Ashley Phillips, Max Arfsten, Sebastian Berhalter, Kyle Joseph, and Will Lankshear.

Swansea finished 11th in the Championship last season after a substantial improvement in form following Vitor Matos’ arrival in November, and the club has made a great start to the new season, backed by summer arrivals Stephen Eustáquio, Elijah Just, Joseph Opoku, and Ross Stewart.

Bristol City has undergone significant change this summer, with Michael Skubala taking over at Ashton Gate after leading Lincoln City to the League One title with 101 points last season, and new signings Lorent Tolaj and Dom Ballard adding plenty of firepower to the Robins’ forward line, as well as Sam Tickle, Lisav Eissat, Jed Wallace, and Sam Greenwood joining.

Dean Windass’s optimistic Middlesbrough, Swansea City, and Bristol City promotion predictions

Windass, an ex-Middlesbrough striker, feels his former club is the team to beat in the Championship this season. He also predicts Swansea and Bristol City will join Middlesbrough in achieving promotion to the Premier League.Windass, speaking to betTOM,

stated that Middlesbrough is one of the Championship’s top clubs.They have a tremendous fanbase, a terrific charman in Steve Gibson, and a management in Kim Hellberg, whom I really admire.I enjoy the way he plays and the concept he has introduced.

“They narrowly missed out last season, but I think they have a great chance of going up this year and could even get promoted automatically.”Swansea and Bristol City are currently my top three picks for promotion.But Middlesbrough are my favourites to win the league; you can’t really look past them.”

Will Lankshear’s transfer from Tottenham Hotspur has given Middlesbrough a significant promotion advantage.

Middlesbrough were one of the more creative sides in the Championship last season, but the absence of a prolific goalscorer hampered Hellberg’s men’s promotion hopes.

However, Borough bought Will Lankshear from Tottenham Hotspur this summer for an original fee of about £10 million, plus another £10 million in add-ons, and while those amounts raised some eyebrows, the 21-year-old has already made an impression at the Riverside Stadium.

Borough have rectified two of their primary difficulties from last season, with a clinical finisher like Lankshear now up front and more depth in the squad to allow Hellberg to freshen things up late in games, and it would be no surprise if they fulfilled Windass’ automatic promotion forecast.