THE SUPRISING BOOKIES CHOICE FOR PREMIER LEAGUE PROMOTION THAT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH!

Ipswich Town: Latest odds for Championship promotion

The race for promotion to the Premier League looks set to go down to the wire – here’s who the bookies think will go up.

With 13 games left in the season, Leicester City top the pile, nine points clear of second-placed Leeds United, whom they face at Elland Road in a big game on Friday night.

Ipswich Town are third, level on points with Leeds and two clear of Southampton, who they will host in Suffolk on Easter Monday (April 1).

And the bookies believe it’s a case of three from those four for the promotion places, with two automatic slots and a play-off winner yet to be decided.

Unsurprisingly, the Foxes are heavy favourites to be promoted with odds as short as 1/80, or a percentage chance of promotion of 98.8%.

Leeds are second at 2/7 (77.8%) and Southampton third at 4/5 (55.6%).

Town, who are already defying all the odds just to be in the mix, are listed as the outsiders in that quartet, with odds of 11/10 or 47.6%.

Leon Blackman, from Oddschecker, said: With each passing matchday in the Championship, it looks set to be a four-way battle for those two automatic promotion positions.

“With Leicester seemingly in the clear and given a 95% chance of finishing in the top two by the bookies, who will take the second spot?

“Leeds are currently given a 55% chance at odds of 4/5 to finish in the top two this season, with Southampton and Ipswich locked at odds of 5/2 (28.6% chance) behind them.

“A win for Leeds against Leicester on Friday night could see their odds for automatic promotion shorten again.”

One thing’s for sure though – Town can never be written off. And they aren’t putting any pressure on themselves.

Boss Kieran McKenna said of the promotion race: “I can honestly say that this year, in Leicester, Leeds and Southampton, we’re up against three of the strongest teams in Championship history, teams that are abnormally strong for this level. Leicester are probably going to break the Championship (points) record.

“We’re not going to waste any emotional energy comparing ourselves to that and getting upset if any of those teams win on a Saturday. We expect them to win.

“Where we’ve come from last season, where they’ve all come from, we know, internally, there is no pressure on ourselves.

“We’re just enjoying each game as it comes. We’re not going to spend any time worrying about those teams.”