EFL experts drop promotion prediction involving Coventry City, Middlesbrough and Ipswich Town | OneFootball

NTT20's George Elek and Ali Maxwell have predicted which of Coventry City, Ipswich Town, and Middlesbrough will gain Championship automatic promotion.

Ipswich Town, Coventry City, and Middlesbrough are the teams most likely to gain automatic promotion from the Championship, with EFL punditry duo George Elek and Ali Maxwell having their final say over who finishes where.

Preston North End and Millwall are just a point back from Ipswich, but both have played a game more and the talk revolves around Kieran McKenna's side breaking into the top two over at least one of Middlesbrough or Coventry.

Frank Lampard's side are six clear of Boro and eight clear of Ipswich, although the latter have a game in hand. Cov have also lost four of the last nine in all competitions, including two games against Ipswich in the league.

Those wins have seen Ipswich cut the gap on both sides dramatically, with McKenna and co. now winning six of the last nine games in all competitions, which includes just a solitary defeat to Leicester City as well.

EFL expert George Elek predicts Coventry City and Ipswich Town to pip Middlesbrough

Speaking via NTT20's mid-season predictions show, George Elek is backing Coventry over Ipswich, but both are backed to beat Middlesbrough to the automatic promotion places by the time May comes around. He said: "I've gone for Coventry to win the league.

"You know, when you're saying that in a weird way, given they're six points clear at the moment, they're the obvious choice to win the league. They are favourites to win the league as you'd expect.

"I think you have to basically guard against being too persuaded by this wobble and assuming that this is going to be their performance from now until the end of the season. Part of the reason why I've got them top is because in second I've got Ipswich. Now that means that I think Ipswich will overtake Middlesbrough between now and the end of the season.

"If that's the case, then it's irrelevant looking at the six-point gap between Boro and Coventry. It's the eight-point gap between Ipswich and Coventry that you're looking at as being the reason to flip the two with a game in hand. Having played each other already twice, there isn't that opportunity for Ipswich to claw that back again in a game between the two.

"So, I think Ipswich will pick up more points than Coventry between now and the end of the season. But I'm also pretty confident that quite soon, like we've seen this so many times — we saw it with Leicester, we saw it with Leeds — teams at the top end of the Championship often go through this kind of strange little mid-season slump.

"Then, as soon as things get tight again, they kick on and they find their stride and they find a way to do it. And I'm pretty sure that soon we'll be talking about this Coventry blip, wobble, mini-crisis, whatever you want to call it, as a thing of the past rather than an elongated demise."

Ali Maxwell backs Ipswich Town to beat Coventry City to the Championship title

Ali Maxwell sees some aspects of the promotion race differently, explaining his thoughts on the top two, he added: "I think that Coventry City will be a Premier League team next season. I think it'll be the culmination of just a fabulous five years for the club and I think everyone can and will feel very proud of themselves.

"I think Ipswich Town will win the Championship and I think Coventry will finish second. With Coventry, they were a terrifying super team; there's no doubt about that. For August, for September, for October, for November. They caught the league off guard basically with an amazing style of play.

"They were blitzing teams. Their attacking players were dovetailing brilliantly. Every month it felt like a new player stepped up. But it doesn't last forever. And crucially, they are not a parachute payment team. They do not have a squad full of 25 expensive players who can shift in and out and help carry things on where others fall.

"They do have a very good squad; probably the best that's been built by a non-parachute payment team. And maybe that's enough to plug that gap. And maybe that's enough to counteract what I'm suggesting, which is that I think they will find it harder to refind that super team level having had a little bit of a wobble.

"In the last two months, they've been not horrendous, but certainly not a super team. More like a top six team, I would say, in terms of results and performances rather than a 100-point super team. I think being a top six team from this point on, if that's what they'll be, they'll still come second.

"I've got enough of the question marks around all the other teams not named Ipswich. But I think, if there's a team to have a flying second half of the season, it's still Ipswich that are most likely.

"I think those two wins over Coventry have done a lot intangibly for Ipswich's confidence, for Coventry's confidence — quite frankly. I don't see eight points with a game in hand as a huge tally, to be honest.

"When it comes to Ipswich being the team that I think suddenly fly from this point and pick up 2.1/2.2 points per game to win this league, they have such clear improvements in the back line over the last few months.

"The change in goal from [Alex] Palmer to [Christian] Walton has been massively significant. Walton's been sensational. The back four looks more settled and a little bit happier than it did at the start of the season. And in midfield, that's massive as well, because I felt like they were looking really poor. Quite alarmingly poor, at times.

"Frankly, Marcelino Nunez in the number 10 role has been a complete revelation. If you watch Ipswich's play, Ipswich's goals from the last

month or two, you'll see Nunez at the heart of so much. [Jaden] Philogene and [Jack] Clarke are basically providing a goal a game; whoever plays off the left.

"Still not perfect at the top of the pitch, but they have the players and the manager that make me believe that things will keep going and possibly get even better. I think there might be another gear left in Ipswich and I think they'll go one better than two years ago and