The 2026-27 Championship is only ten games old for most teams, but is the table already taking shape ahead of the campaign’s conclusion in May?
The current Championship standings may not have been what many projected before the season began, with clubs such as Burnley, Derby County, and Norwich City suffering at the bottom of the table.
And, despite several big-hitting parachute payment sides close behind, Swansea City are leading the way in the second division, thanks largely to the efforts of head coach Vitor Matos and some wise summer recruiting.
There is still plenty of football to be played, but who do AI think will be in the top eight in May for the play-offs and automatic promotion? FLW takes a look.
8West Brom
With the play-off system established in the second division for the 2026-27 season, two additional clubs will have the opportunity to enter the Premier League.
The teams that finish third and fourth will receive automatic byes to the semi-finals, while fifth will face eighth, and sixth will face seventh in one-legged shootouts.
AI has forecast that Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield United, and Millwall will just miss out on these slots, with West Brom taking the top one.
Former Baggies midfielder James Morrison was named permanent manager at The Hawthorns this summer after leading the team to safety as interim manager last season, but his form has been inconsistent in recent weeks.
West Brom have lost to both Midlands rivals, Wolves and Birmingham City, but have won over Wrexham and Derby County; they are not, however, prolific goal scorers.
Morrison may need Aune Heggebo or Jimmy-Jay Morgan to really take off in order to clinch their place in the play-offs, but it is something that might happen, even if AI believes the Baggies will lose in the elimination stage.
7QPR
Have QPR finally discovered the answer to not just finishing in the top half of the Championship, but also qualifying for the playoffs?
This is the Hoops’ 12th consecutive season in English football’s second division, and they last finished in the top half in 2021-22 under Mark Warburton’s management.
Fans have had to suffer somewhat since, and Julien Stephan’s first season in command at Loftus Road resulted in a 15th-place finish, but there are hopeful indicators that things will change in 2026-27.
The R’s spent very little money adding to their squad this summer, but they were wise in their free transfer recruitment, with Dennis Cirkin and Tariq Lamptey significantly bolstering their ranks at full-back, while the quality in the final third was already there with Rumarn Burrell, Ilias Chair, and Koki Saito.
QPR had only lost one of its first ten league games, and their 4-1 victory against Derby County was every bit as stunning as their draw at West Ham and recovery from two goals down against Preston, despite playing with ten men for the whole of the match.
Could this be the year that promotion comes back to west London? AI disagrees, believing that QPR would be eliminated at the eliminator stage, but it would be a commendable attempt to reach that point.
6Wolves
Eyebrows were raised in the summer when Wolves unexpectedly fired Rob Edwards in favour of Portuguese manager Cesar Peixoto, and the decision has had mixed consequences thus far.
They looked stylish when dispatching Preston and Stoke City early in the season, but frailties have begun to show in recent weeks, losing 1-0 to high-flying Middlesbrough first, but the real concern will be a 3-1 loss at home to Bolton Wanderers, with only three shots on target.
On paper, there are plenty of players in Peixoto’s squad who could rank among the best in their positions in the division, such as Fer Lopez, Raul Jimenez, and André, but back-to-back defeats may be cause for concern, especially when the head coach is new to the Championship.
Jimenez’s injury absence until January is also expected to be a setback, but AI believes Wolves will still finish in the top eight, but will miss out on promotion by losing in the semi-final stage of the play-offs after defeating QPR in the elimination round.
5Birmingham City
After destroying League One with 111 points, Birmingham City were anticipated to do well in the Championship last season, but finishing in 10th place – below Wrexham, who finished behind them in the third tier – was disappointing.
When you examine the investment made in Chris Davies’ squad, it calls into question his performance as head coach, but Knighthead persevered with him – and it’s paying off.
Blues have lost just one of their first ten matches of the season; four of their first five results were draws, which earned Davies some criticism for his team’s inability to finish games, but three wins in their last four, including a 4-0 demolition of Preston, have been encouraging.
City is presently ranked fourth, and AI predicts that they will finish fifth, but they will make it all the way to the play-off final, where they will just lose out on promotion.
4Southampton
Southampton were the in-form team heading into last season’s play-offs, and they came close to defeating Manchester City at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup semi-final – until the Spygate scandal changed the course of the campaign.
The Saints were swiftly kicked out of their scheduled final against Hull City after defeating Middlesbrough over two legs due to their admission of guilt for spying, and they were also given a four-point deduction for the 2026-27 season.
That setback was swiftly overcome, and now that head coach Tonda Eckert knows he will not be punished until he commits another infraction in the near future, the south coast club can focus on their season, which is going well.
Southampton has only lost twice in the league this season, and without the deduction, they would be third in the Championship standings – AI believes they will finish fourth and advance to the play-off final, where they will defeat Birmingham City to return to the Premier League after two years away.
3Swansea City
That implies AI does not believe Swansea City, who are expected to finish third in the Championship, will win the play-offs, let alone reach the final.
Appointing Vitor Matos last season after Alan Sheehan’s dismissal was a risky move, but it has paid off thus far, even with the sale of talented midfielder Ethan Galbraith to Stoke City.
That one surprised many, but it provided the Swans with funds to refill their roster in a variety of ways, as well as a better chance of retaining talisman Zan Vipotnik, who has had to play second fiddle to Adam Idah thus far in 2026-27.
The South Wales outfit looks very impressive after winning seven of their first ten matches and only losing to Southampton, but AI predicts that they will finally be reeled in and lose the play-off semi-final against Birmingham City.
2Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough made a lot of money this summer, from Hayden Hackney’s well-deserved move to Everton in the Premier League to the sell-on clause created by Morgan Rogers’ move from Aston Villa to Chelsea, and then Morgan Whittaker was sold to the MLS’s Colorado Rapids.
The first two gave the Borough hierarchy room to manoeuvre in the window, and Kim Hellberg was given the necessary support following the Teessiders’ humiliation in the Championship play-off final – and everything seemed to have clicked already.
Around £22 million has been invested in three home-grown talents in Will Lankshear, Ash Phillips, and Radek Vitek (from Czechia, but he was developed at Manchester United from the age of 16), in deals that could rise to £55 million if all add-ons are met, and with eight Championship goals already, Lankshear in particular is proving to be an inspired buy.
The addition of more USA internationals, such as Sebastian Berhalter and Max Arfsten, has increased depth in midfield and out wide, while the late loan signing of Amario Cozier-Duberry was a major coup, given how well he is currently doing.
1West Ham
Given the roster gathered at the London Stadium, it’s not surprising that West Ham are the table-toppers.
Nuno’s retention as head coach was significant enough, but keeping Jarrod Bowen and Taty Castellanos was even more significant – and it’s clearly paying off.
The Hammers had a difficult start to the season, including a surprise setback at home to Charlton in August, but five wins and three draws have seen them go unbeaten since, with the 6-0 thrashing of Wrexham the standout performance thus far.
On paper, West Ham should flatten most Championship clubs – it doesn’t often work out that way in practice, but AI sees them as championship winners at the conclusion of the season, which many will find difficult to argue with now that they’ve gotten rolling.
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