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The Premier league thread has recently been woken up, lets try and do the same in the Championship thread...

So who do people think is going up as runner up to Leeds this season?

Norwich to win the title and West Brom to come 2nd. Midd*****rough via the play offs.

I can see Leeds slipping in jan/feb when they have some crunch games:

Midd*****rough away
Stoke away
Forest away

Norwich home
Swansea home
Derby home

Tough away fixtures coupled with playing similarly good footballing teams at home.

Hull City are storming up the table!

Personally I think the top two will come from Leeds/West Brom and Derby. Two of those three. I'm hoping once Leeds have a defence back from injury in early Jan we can get one of those two spots.

Can't see Midd*****rough promoting, not with Pulis in charge playing 7 defenders and unwilling to attack.

Villa could be the club to make a late charge though if they can sort their defence out.

I'm looking forward to having 4 first team starters back in the side for us come January. Our 2 starting cb's, the best central midfielder in the league and another midfielder.

That is why I'm optimistic. To miss our best two central defenders, our best midfielder and another starting midfielder for long periods whilst we have maintained our form is promising. They'll be like new signings.

The downside is that we have no money to get any new signings to further strengthen. Whereas other sides will be spending millions.

As for Derby, Lampard may have got them going differently, but they every year fall away. So I just see them doing the same again

Derby have after today's fixture:

Sheff Utd
Norwich
Middlesbrough
Leeds

All in quick succession.

They will either be in fantastic shape or fall away. Could be make or break for them even this early in the season.

Must admit I would like to see Leeds back in the Premier League again. They play a good pantomime villain which the Premier League is missing.

I don't mind being the pantomime villains though I'm not sure neutrals could dislike this side right now, it seems to tick all the boxes of what football fans wish football would revert back to.
Playing football in similar attacking free flowing style of Man City (Bielsa having been a great influence on Guardiola, Pep having travelled to Argentina to spend time with Bielsa to pick his brains on his ideas and philosophies)
Spending nothing, just relying on coaching the existing players better (only signing one player since last season with a team that were potential relegation candidates.
Relying on youth, 7 out of our last match day squad being kids from our academy.
That and having Bielsa who is the most likeable chap in football!

Sounds like both of us deserve to go up on that basis then

We play like Klopp at liverpool (Farke learning the football trade at borussia dortmund) playing a high attacking and pressing game with overlapping wing backs. We also have a lot of youth coming through from the academy with 4 in the starting line-up today. We also have had little to spend, roughly 5m in total from the sales of Murphy and madisson our two best players and biggest goal contributors last season. Credit to Farke tho, he has plucked out Pukki on a free transfer and Leitner the best cm In the league for 1.25m, alongside other successful buys too.

We both just need West Brom and boro to lose a couple so that we can break away!

I certainly hope that happens. It would be great to see two clubs who don't have the ridiculous parachute payments going up through great coaching rather than the huge spending clubs like Boro and West Brom. In fairness to West Brom they play pretty good football too but Midd*****ro's anti football would be awful to see being rewarded with a premier league place.

Agree with that mate. West Brom have some very favourable fixtures coming up so I expect to see them top 2 very soon. Time will tell as to which one of us slips up.

We now have forest and derby at home. Megga crunch time now! Get 4 points from that and us Norwich fans will be very happy going into the new year!

95th minute winner after being 2-0 down. If ever there is a time to celebrate its then, and the goalscorer gets booked for excessive celebrating...take a bow ref, you win the baa humbug award this Christmas!

I don't suppose Leeds expected that result!

It didn't surprise me at all actually, I half expected it. The number of games with the miniscule squad we have has the players shattered. One fit central defender means our most important midfielder playing central defence leaving us with five fit midfielders in a five man midfield. No one can be rested, ever. I'm amazed we lasted this long before finally losing. Until Cooper is fit or we bring someone in, in January I can see us dropping a few more points as well. Plus our absolutely dreadful keeper has conceded 6 goals in the last 3 games out of just 7 shots on target! We badly need a keeper.
I just hope we can stay in the top two until the injury crisis is over.

Yeah, but still...

What's the Championship

Hope we never find out

Hope you do

I thought you'd prefer your lads to

Now Leeds are spying on their opponents!