Championship promotion 2024/25: Leeds, Sheff Utd, Burnley, Sunderland front-runners in race to reach the Premier League | Football News

With just 11 games remaining in the 2024/25 season, the race for promotion from the Championship to the Premier League is hotting up once again.

Leeds lead the way at the top of the table and are on a 17-game unbeaten run that stretches all the way back to the start of December, but Daniel Farke’s side are far from home and dry just yet.

Sheffield United and Burnley are hot on their heels, three and five points behind respectively, while Sunderland are hanging on just behind them, hoping to secure a top-two finish that looked a certainty in the first few months of the season.

Here’s a look at the Championship form table…

Here’s a look at the average position of the top four’s next five opponents…

And here’s a closer look at the front-runners for promotion to the Premier League…

1st – Leeds, 76 points

Naturally hurt by last season’s play-off final defeat to Southampton, Leeds have barely put a foot wrong in trying to secure a return to the Premier League this term. Farke’s side have the best home record in the Championship, the third-best away record and are on course to finish the season with 100 points.

With 72 goals scored, they are the highest scorers in the top four divisions of English football and though they have lost three league games, each has been by a 1-0 scoreline – and the last defeat was all the way back on November 30.

2nd – Sheffield United, 73 points

An independent commission handed Sheffield United a two-point deduction last April after the club defaulted on payments to other clubs during their promotion season in 2022/23 – but that deficit was wiped out on the opening day and the Blades were flying thereafter. After 15 wins from the first 22 matches, they were top at Christmas.

With the margins so fine at this level, defeats to Burnley and Sunderland, as well as a draw with West Brom, saw them give that lead up quickly and invite Leeds in. Eight wins in the last 10 has done them the world of good, but they cannot afford to – and will not – rest on their laurels.

3rd – Burnley, 71 points

There have been no signs of a hangover after relegation from the Premier League last term for Burnley. An opening 4-1 win over Luton, then a 5-0 victory over Cardiff showed that, and, since the start of September, Scott Parker’s side have not dropped out of the top four.

Central to their success has been their incredible defensive record, which has seen them keep 25 clean sheets and concede just 10 league goals, one of which came in the 2-1 midweek win over Cardiff. That brought to an end a run of almost 19 hours without conceding.

4th – Sunderland, 65 points

Sunderland led the way at the top of the Championship in the early months after nine wins from their first 12, but picking up 16 points from a possible 36 through November and December knocked them down to fourth, where they have sat ever since.

The Black Cats’ momentum was hit by defeats to Leeds and Hull in February – the first time they had lost back-to-back games all season – but a valuable win over Sheffield Wednesday last time out has just about kept them in the automatic promotion hunt.

The play-off race

Seven teams below the top four are in the race to finish in the play-off places come May, with automatic promotion essentially out of reach at this point.

Frank Lampard’s Coventry are fifth on 53 points, having won eight of their last nine games, while West Brom, Bristol City and Blackburn sit sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, each on 52 points.

Middlesbrough are still in the picture in ninth on 50 points after two straight wins ended a run of five defeats in succession, while still just about clinging on are Watford in 10th with 49 points and Norwich in 11th with 48.

Championship Expected table

Championship Predicted table

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