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AI makes Middlesbrough promotion verdict as final Championship table predicted
There's plenty water to flow through the Tees before we know Middlesbrough's Championship fate for the 2024-25 season. After all, there are still 31 games to play before the campaign's winners and losers are decided.
However, that has not stopped plenty of speculation over who will emerge as successful promotion candidates and who will miss out - or worse, be relegated into League One. Boro are very much hoping to be in the first camp, with a shrewd summer transfer policy starting to pay off.
Michael Carrick's side are starting to click, with results now matching the performances after a frustrating start to the season. The new additions of Ben Doak, Aidan Morris, George Edmundson and Tommy Conway, among others, are starting shine alongside established stars such as Hayden Hackney, Matt Clarke, Emmanuel Latte Lath and Anfernee Dijksteel.
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The challenge is to maintain the level of performance shown against QPR and Luton throughout the long and rigorous Championship campaign. Boro have some testing fixtures on the horizon, not least with away days at Burnley and Leeds United to kick off December, but must negotiate many such tests if they want to find themselves in the top six - or better - come May.
To that end, the latest 'supercomputer' predictions have been made during the current international break. The team at Grosvenor Sport have crunched the numbers and come up with their predicted final Championship table. They use probability model based on every team’s current strength, league position, form and betting market odds and then run a simulation 1,000 times to predict the outcome of every fixture.
The latest predictions see Boro finish seventh in the table - level on points with sixth place Millwall but missing out on goal difference. Of course, it's only a projection, and although this scenario would be agony for Boro fans, it does highlight the fine margins that could be in play here and the importance of every single point.
Burnley and Leeds United have been backed to win automatic promotio, with Sheffield United, West Brom, Sunderland Millwall left to fight it out in the play-offs. At the other end, it's relegation for Wayne Rooney's Plymouth, Queens Park Rangers and Portsmouth.
So there's the challenge - beat the November prediction and make the top six. There's plenty of time for computers to change their mind - super or not.
Predicted Championship table
Burnley 96pts
Leeds United 92
Sunderland 90
West Brom 83
Sheffield United 77
Millwall 75
Middlesbrough 75
Bristol City 73
Blackburn 67
Norwich 66
Watford 63
Luton 61
Coventry 60
Oxford United 57
Hull City 57
Derby 54
Preston 54
Swansea 53
Cardiff 53
Sheffield Wed 49
Stoke 48
Portsmouth 44
QPR 40
Plymouth 40
