Where AI thinks Southampton and Portsmouth will finish in 26/27 Championship table | OneFootball

The South Coast derby is one of many exciting fixtures taking place in next season's Championship

Now the dust has settled on the 2025/26 EFL season, many are already looking forward to the upcoming Championship campaign which gets underway in the middle of August after the FIFA World Cup.

After the previous eight months, once again, provided supporters up and down the country with moments of joy and pain in equal measure, more of the same is likely to be delivered in next season's second tier.

Due to the various promotions and relegations to and from the Premier League and League One in recent weeks, it is already being claimed that the 2026/27 Championship campaign could be an 'all-timer', as a result of the expanded play-off format, the variety of teams competing against each other and the sheer number of local derbies and rivalries.

2025/26 saw the renewal of the South Coast derby between Southampton and Portsmouth in a league context for the first time in 13 years, although both games at St Mary's and Fratton Park ended in draws.

Pompey then eventually achieved survival for a second successive season, while Saints missed out on the chance to clinch a first-time promotion back to the Premier League after they were expelled from the play-offs as a result of the well-documented spygate scandal, whilst also being hit with a four-point deduction for next season as a result of multiple breaches of EFL regulation 127.

As such, plenty of uncertainty is swirling around the Reds at this moment in time, while John Mousinho has been linked with a potential move away from the Blues.

But, with that said, Football League World asked AI for an early prediction on the two rivals' fortunes next term.

Southampton still expected to finish in play-off battle despite spygate fallout

As previously mentioned, Saints are already on the back foot heading into next season with their minor deficit, added to the fact that an exodus of key players could certainly occur due to reports of potential legal action following the spygate fallout.

Combine this with reports that Eckert could still be sacked or, rather controversially, remain in charge following the controversy, many supporters believe the higher-ups at St Mary's have a lot of work to do in order for trust and faith to be repaid.

Despite those obvious concerns, AI believes that the club are likely to finish fifth in the Championship as a result of the expanded play-off format, meaning that a deduction as low as four points isn't entirely impactful.

AI also believes that a core of solid Championship players will remain, and that they could still compete with several clubs in the promotion mix-up as a result.

However, the major downside from the computer's perspective is that the fallout from spygate could have a negative emotional impact when it comes to an automatic promotion battle, added to the fact that opposition supporters, in particular, are likely to attempt to use such developments to their advantage, creating an unsettling environment in away games.

AI believes Saints will be in a similar bracket to Middlesbrough - who were majorly involved in spygate - as well as Sheffield United, Birmingham City and Norwich City.

AI believes Portsmouth will progress in next season's Championship

After finishing 16th and 18th in the past two seasons on a limited budget compared to many divisional rivals, AI is optimistic that Pompey can progress further up the Championship standings next season.

A finish of 15th has been pinpointed, and they are expected to make Fratton Park a fortress once again, despite having the sixth-worst home record in the Championship last season with 30 points from 23 games, although the bulk of their 55 points were still accumulated in PO4.

The computer predicts that they are likely going to take points off the promotion favourites in the process, and that their consistency of surviving the drop in back-to-back seasons will be the key factor.

Although a 15th-placed finish has also been described as potentially 'annoying' due to inconsistent results and performances throughout the 46-game season, it would still represent the club's highest position since they were relegated out of the Premier League at the end of 2009/10.