What position AI thinks Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City will finish in the Premier League | OneFootball

The Sky Blues, Tractor Boys and Tigers are all now preparing for top-flight life

With the 2025/26 Championship season now at its end, supporters of Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City are brimming with excitement after their respective promotions to the Premier League were secured in the campaign's final weeks.

The Sky Blues had been gearing up for success ever since they returned to the Championship under Mark Robins some six years ago, with his successor, Frank Lampard, eventually guiding them back to the top-flight for the first time in 25 years in spectacular fashion in his first full season in charge at the CBS Arena.

City romped to the second tier title with a tally of 95 points, winning 28 of their 46 games and scoring 97 times in the process, with Ipswich also sealing an automatic promotion place on the final day of the regular season with a 3-0 success over Queens Park Rangers at Portman Road.

Such feats meant that, in his four full seasons as manager in Suffolk, the highly-rated Kieran McKenna has won promotion in three of those, having started the trail of success during the 2022/23 League One season, and they are now bound for the top-flight again 12 months after they were relegated on just 22 points.

The Tigers, meanwhile, couldn't have secured their own promotion in a much more dramatic fashion under Sergej Jakirovic, who was hamstrung by a two-window transfer fee restriction months after moving to East Yorkshire from Kayserispor.

City returned to the Championship play-off places on the final day, before defeating third-placed Millwall in the semi-finals and eventually winning 1-0 at Wembley Stadium versus Middlesbrough on May 23rd through Oli McBurnie's 95th-minute goal, after their opponents were reinstated into the final after spygate.

With that in mind, Football League World has asked AI to predict where the newly-promoted trio will fare in the 2026/27 Premier League.

Coventry City - 16th

Just like their position in comparison to Ipswich and Hull in 2025/26, AI believes Coventry will finish the highest of the trio and escape an immediate fall back into the EFL with a 16th-placed finish.

The computer believes that, under Lampard - who will hope to prove previous doubters wrong - the West Midlands outfit will have the ability to adapt to the division more than many recent newly-promoted sides by mixing up their style of play, as well as having several players who are versatile.

AI also believes that if Coventry were to suffer a heavy defeat in the campaign's early weeks, the former Chelsea and Everton boss, much like Daniel Farke of Leeds United, would not be afraid to alternate systems in a bid to earn much more positive results as the season progresses, with confidence growing as a result.

It has also been claimed that 16th is a median position between a best and worst-case scenario of 14th and 19th respectively.

Ipswich Town - 18th

Meanwhile, AI believes Ipswich could face similar problems to their last Premier League stint, during which only four games were won, and 82 goals were conceded.

As such, while still praising McKenna's coaching ability once more, an 18th-place finish is predicted for the Tractor Boys, who, rather unsurprisingly, in the computer's view, will come unstuck against the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool.

AI does 'like' the culture which the Northern Irishman has put together at Portman Road, though, but believes his club must recruit well in several departments, such as centre-back, defensive midfield and in forward areas to prove such claims wrong.

However, like the Sky Blues, if all does go to plan, a potential finish as high as 14th has also been forecast for the East Anglian outfit.

Hull City - 20th

Hull have already been made overwhelming favourites for relegation after their Wembley triumph, and AI is certainly agreeing with the masses on this call, although Jakirovic and his squad have already developed a reputation for proving predictions wrong.

The computer has major concerns about the Tigers' depth and quality in all departments compared to their 19 upcoming rivals, meaning there are also severe question marks over the performance levels the Bosnian's side are producing over a 38-game campaign.

Despite banking £215m through McBurnie's winner in North London, AI claims that City are also at a financial disadvantage to every other side, and that they should look at the recruitment strategy of Nottingham Forest back in 2022/23, as a blueprint to follow, in order to survive the drop.

In terms of the percentage likelihood of relegation or survival, it claims that there is a 70 percent chance of Jakirovic's team finishing in the bottom three, and that the best finish they could hope for is 16th, which would equal the club's highest-ever placement back in 2013/14.