Where AI thinks Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford will finish in 26/27 League One table | OneFootball

The trio of sides' performances in the third tier will certainly attract plenty of focus

Although the 2025/26 EFL season is yet to reach its full conclusion, we do already know the upcoming positions of many clubs throughout the Championship, League One and League Two with 2026/27 only a matter of weeks away itself.

The current second tier campaign has been full of drama, unexpected moments and controversies, with two of those at least ringing true when assessing the situations of both Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday, who were relegated back to the third tier alongside Oxford United.

Whilst many expected the Owls to be relegated given their 18-point deficit and lack of transfer activity due to a multitude of sanctions imposed by the EFL, they did end the season in emotional fashion by defeating West Bromwich Albion 2-0 at Hillsborough, on the very day which David Storch's takeover of the Steel City club was confirmed.

Leicester, meanwhile, became the second club in as many seasons to fall from the Premier League and straight into League One, with the Foxes' own financial uncertainty well-documented after being hit with a six-point deduction in February.

As such, they are gearing up for just a second-ever season in the third tier in club history, having won the title under Nigel Pearson in their only other League One campaign 17 years ago.

Oxford, meanwhile, will kickstart their first full season under Matt Bloomfield's management in League One, two years and three head coaches later after they defeated Bolton Wanderers at Wembley in the 2024 play-off final.

With that being said, Football League World has put AI to the test once more to see if it can correctly predict the fortunes of the Foxes, U'S and Owls next season.

Leicester City predicted to immediately win the League One title

Despite the fact it still remains to be seen which players will stay in the East Midlands, with several high earners such as Harry Winks, Abdul Fatawu and Jordan Ayew set to leave the club beyond the already publicised exits of Ricardo Pereira and Stade Rennais loan ace, Jordan James, AI predicts that Leicester will win the League One title.

It is also undecided who will spearhead the club's latest rebuild from the dugout, with the likes of Dick Schreuder and Darren Ferguson already namedropped as potential candidates, while it has already been claimed that the Foxes will have an initial £10m budget on their hands.

The computer claims that, even with the loss of several high-profile names and an uncertain financial position, City still have a much stronger infrastructure than all of their divisional counterparts, allowing for a potentially huge advantage.

However, it has been noted that this doesn't automatically guarantee success, as seen this season, due to the toxic atmosphere which has festered right throughout the football club following such an unprecedented fall from grace.

Sheffield Wednesday predicted to feature in the League One play-offs

Following on from Leicester's predicted success, AI believes that Wednesday's first season under the ownership of Arise Capital will see them into the play-offs under Henrik Pedersen.

The chances of this happening were given a major boost on the final day of the current campaign when it was confirmed that the EFL had waived an expected 15-point deduction due to incidents involving controversial former owner, Dejphon Chansiri, while it has also been reported that the Owls will not be operating under spending caps in terms of transfer fees or wages.

However, AI believes it could take some time for a new squad to fully gel despite the vast support they will receive at Hillsborough and on their travels, and that a prediction of fifth is seen as a middle ground as they could likely finish in any position between second and 14th.

Oxford United predicted to finish in mid-table under Matt Bloomfield

AI, somewhat surprisingly, has claimed that Oxford are the polar opposite of Leicester and Wednesday in terms of stability, with the Yellows recently undergoing their own boardroom reshuffle at the Kassam Stadium.

However, one key disadvantage, according to the computer, is that they don't have as much of an intimidation factor as the other two newly-relegated outfits, especially in terms of their home stadium.

AI believes that Bloomfield's side, as previously seen at this level mostly with Wycombe Wanderers, will be a competitive outfit, but may even struggle to oust clubs such as MK Dons, who are coming back to the third tier with plenty of financial resources and momentum.

As such, Oxford have been predicted to finish somewhere between eighth and 12th, which could still provide a solid initial rebuilding base for the seasons to come.