Dean Windass names the 3 EFL Championship clubs he thinks will get promoted | OneFootball

Former Hull City striker Dean Windass has backed Middlesbrough, Swansea City and Bristol City to win promotion from the Championship this season.

Former Hull City striker Dean Windass has predicted that Middlesbrough, Swansea City and Bristol City will win promotion from the Championship this season.

The new Championship season is underway, and while the campaign is still in its early stages, it already looks set to be one of the most open and unpredictable divisions for some time.

Middlesbrough, Swansea City and Bristol City will have Championship promotion dream

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Relegated trio West Ham United, Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers were among the promotion favourites heading into the season, but they have all shown weaknesses in the opening weeks of the campaign, while a number of potential surprise packages have emerged.

Middlesbrough suffered heartbreak as they were beaten 1-0 by Hull City in last season's play-off final, but they have spent big as they look to achieve promotion this time around, bringing in the likes of Radek Vitek, Ashley Phillips, Max Arfsten, Sebastian Berhalter, Kyle Joseph and Will Lankshear.

Swansea finished 11th in the Championship last season after a significant upturn in form following Vitor Matos' arrival in November, and the Swans have made a strong start to the new campaign, bolstered by summer signings including Stephen Eustáquio, Elijah Just, Joseph Opoku and Ross Stewart.

It has been a big summer of change at Bristol City, with Michael Skubala taking over at Ashton Gate after leading Lincoln City to the League One title with a 101-point haul last season, and new additions Lorent Tolaj and Dom Ballard have added plenty of firepower to the Robins' forward line, while Sam Tickle, Lisav Eissat, Jed Wallace and Sam Greenwood are also among those who have arrived.

Dean Windass drops exciting Middlesbrough, Swansea City and Bristol City promotion prediction

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Ex-Middlesbrough striker Windass revealed that he believes his former club are the team to beat in the Championship this season, and he backed Swansea and Bristol City to join the Teesside outfit in winning promotion to the Premier League.

"Middlesbrough would be right up there for me as one of the biggest clubs in the Championship," Windass said, speaking to betTOM.

"They have a huge fanbase, a fantastic charman in Steve Gibson and a manager in Kim Hellberg who I really like.

"I like the way he plays and the philosophy he has brought in.

"They narrowly missed out last season, but I think they have a great chance of going up this year and could even get promoted automatically.

"Swansea have started well and Bristol City are a good side too, so those would probably be my three picks to go up at the moment.

"But Middlesbrough are my favourites to win the league — you cannot really look beyond them."

Will Lankshear, Tottenham Hotspur deal has given Middlesbrough a huge promotion advantage

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Middlesbrough were one of the most creative sides in the Championship last season, but the lack of a prolific goalscorer proved costly to Hellberg's men in their pursuit of promotion.

However, Boro signed Will Lankshear from Tottenham Hotspur this summer for an initial fee of around £10 million, plus a further £10 million in add-ons, and while a few eyebrows were raised at those figures, the 21-year-old has already made a big impact at the Riverside Stadium.

With a clinical finisher like Lankshear now up front, and more depth in the squad to allow Hellberg to freshen things up later in games, Boro have solved two of their main issues from last season, and it would be no surprise to see them fulfil Windass' automatic promotion prediction.