Birmingham City boss Chris Davies names two EFL Championship sides he thinks are 'strong' | OneFootball

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies has eyed up two Championship clubs who are promotion contenders

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies has eyed up two Championship clubs who are 'strong' promotion contenders.

In the ever-competitive league that is the Championship, it's been a steady start for Birmingham City, who are perhaps currently operating just below the standard that they would have hoped for after a record-breaking League One season last year.

The Blues currently sit in 17th place with 10 games played. However, when scanning the table, there isn't too much separating themselves and the league's top performers, as there is only a five point difference between the Blues and 6th place Millwall, who occupy the final play-off spot.

Without a win in their last four has caused some concern for Chris Davies' side. However, they look to put things right with an away trip to Preston next up on the calander.

With plenty more football to be played, Birmingham will hope to piece together a run of form that could see them mount an outsider chance for promotion. But in the meantime, Davies has identified two key sides that could well be labelled as a Premier League side come the end of the season.

Chris Davies thinks that Coventry and Ipswich are the two 'strong' sides in the Championship

The Championship is currently as tight as ever with it being anyone's game when it comes to promotion talks. This is highlighted by the fact that only three points separates Stoke City in 3rd from QPR in 11th.

When speaking to BirminghamLive, Blues manager Davies said: "It could be the tightest Championship we’ve seen for a while."

"There’s not going to be a runaway leader, I wouldn’t say, from what I’ve seen."

"I think there’s a couple of teams that I’ve seen that are very strong, but I’m not sure they’re going to create the sort of margin that Leicester did a few years ago and teams like that."

Despite Davies not thinking that there will be one team miles better than the rest, he has identified Coventry and Ipswich as two teams that could prove to be the strongest over the course of the whole season.

Ipswich had a poor start to the season by their standards, but before their most recent loss to Middlesbrough, the Tractor Boys were unbeaten in five with three wins in that run.

As for Coventry, the staggering 29 goals they have scored so far this season has made Lampard's side a real force going forward as well as a stable side at the back having merely conceded seven goals. Coventry look to be a well-oiled machine, it's just a case of carrying that through to May.

Davies said: "I think Coventry look strong. They have started very well. I look at Ipswich and people will say they dropped down but when I saw them play and I was preparing for the game, I thought the depth of their squad and the way they play, I think they will be very strong."

Davies highlights the need for Birmingham to focus on themselves

Even though the Championship is proving to be a major step up in challenge for Davies and his side, the Blues manager has quickly come to terms that life in the second tier can be unpredictable. With that said, it's easy to focus on results as football is a results-based game. However, Davies believes that if his side stick to their guns and continue to improve, then they can be a difficult team to beat in the division.

Davies said via BirminghamLive: "One week teams win 3-0 and the next week they lose 3-0, and that is the Championship."

"As I’ve said to the players, it’s a different league and a different challenge for us. We’re not going to win every game... What we need to focus on is ourselves and improving our level of performance."

"We have to be ready to react and build more consistency. From my point of view, I think we’ve conceded the fewest shots in the league, so our general pressing and intensity I’ve been happy with, but we’ve had to be inch-perfect at the back, because we just haven’t quite created the chances that we need to, so the big focus for me is the creation of meaningful chances. If we can increase that, then we will really be a force."