A look at how Championship clubs fared against the pre-season predicted table, including Millwall and QPR.

The Championship season concluded with the play-off final on Saturday. Sunderland returned to the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Sheffield United, scoring in stoppage time.

The London sides had a successful season, with Millwall narrowly missing out on a play-off spot and QPR comfortably securing safety. Charlton Athletic’s promotion from League One means they will play in the second tier next season.

 

How were the two London sides expected to perform in the current Championship season? According to Opta’s pre-season predictions, up to six Championship positions were correct, but Millwall and QPR did not finish as expected. QPR were expected to perform slightly worse than they did, and Millwall were not expected to make the playoffs, but until three-quarters of the way through the season, that seemed like a safe prediction.

 

 

Here, we look at the pre-season predictions and compare them to the actual positions. The position difference is based on real position, so if a team was predicted to finish first but finished second, they would receive a minus one in that column, whereas the’real points difference’ is based on actual points, so if a team finished with three more points than expected, they would receive a plus in that column.

 

Pre-season OPTA Championship Prediction Table

1st: Leeds United (81.6)

(Position difference: 0; real points difference: +18.4)

2nd: Middlesbrough – 73.9

(Position difference: -8; real points difference: -9.9)

3rd place: Burnley – 71.4

(Position difference: +1; real points difference: +28.6)

4th: West Bromwich Albion – 71.1

(Position difference: -5; real points difference: -7.1)

5th: Luton Town – 70.9

(Position difference: -17; real points difference: -21.9)

6th: Norwich City (69.9)

(Position difference: -7; real points difference: -12.9)

7th: Coventry City (67.4)

(Position difference: +2; real points difference: +1.6)

8th: Hull City – 66.4

(Position difference: -13; real points difference: -17.4)

9th: Sheffield United – 65.3

(Position difference: +6; real points difference: +24.7)

10th: Bristol City – 63.9

(Position difference: +4; real points difference: +4)

11th: Swansea City – 62.6

(Position difference: 0; real points difference: -1.6)

12th: Sheffield Wednesday – 61.6.

(Position difference: 0; real points difference: -3.6).

13th: Stoke City – 60.6.

(Position difference: -5; real points difference: -9.6)

14th: Millwall – 59.8

(Position difference: +6; real points difference: +6.2)

15th: Watford – 59.6.

(Position difference: -1; real points difference: -2.6)

16th: Blackburn Rovers – 59.1

(Position difference: +9; real points difference: +6.9)

17th: Portsmouth – 58.6

(Position difference: +1; real points difference: -4.6)

18th: Preston North End – 58.2

(Position difference: -2; real points difference: -8.2)

19th: Derby County – 58.1

(Position difference: 0; real points difference: -8.1)

20th: Queens Park Rangers – 57.5

(Position difference: +5; real points difference: -1.5)

21st: Sunderland – 56.2

(Position difference: +18; real points difference: +19.8)

22nd: Oxford United – 55.5

(Position difference: +5; real points difference: -2.5)

23rd: Plymouth Argyle (53.7)

(Position difference: 0; real points difference: -7.7)

24th: Cardiff City – 50.6

(Position difference: 0; real points difference: -6.6)

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