There will be more than tea sipped at parties around Kenilworth Road when Luton Town get promoted back to the Premier League as the top team in the Championship.
The previous season saw the relegation of all three recently promoted teams, with the Hatters starting the season as the heavy favorite to both be relegated and finish last. Rather, they proved to be the better of the new boys, finishing in 18th place, and it looked for a while as though they would be able to benefit from Nottingham Forest and Everton’s point deductions. Despite finishing six points below Forest in the 17th position, they performed admirably overall and gained respect from the neutrals for their daring strategy against the elite players in the league.
Once they found their feet, Rob Edwards’ side gained in confidence and drew at home against Liverpool before losing by one goal to Manchester United, Tottenham (twice), Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Manchester City.
They also took four points off Newcastle, who many expect to enjoy a big year this season, and the valuable experience against the best will put them in good stead this time around.
The Hatters have kept the bulk of the better players in their squad and while they could do with a couple of signings to strengthen the ranks before the transfer window expires, the same can be said for their main rivals in the Championship.
Leeds are the market leaders at 7/2 but have lost key players in Crysencio Summerville to West Ham and Archie Gray to Tottenham, while Burnley and Sheffield United just don’t look as strong on paper as our selection.
Neither do any of the sides who were in English football’s second tier last term and it would be a whopping surprise if Portsmouth, Derby or Oxford followed in Ipswich Town’s boots and celebrated successive promotions from League One to the Premier League.
What’s more, the Hatters are a cracking price at 12/1 with bet365, prime each-way material in case some of the injuries which have been picked up in pre-season linger longer than expected.
Middlesbrough were our tip last term but soon floundered when important players were sold and others headed to the treatment room.
However, under Michael Carrick’s management they rallied from the lower-table doldrums to finish strongly in eighth, just four points out of the play-offs, and are 7/2 with bet365 to gain promotion this season.
Emmanuel Latte Lath scored 16 goals in 30 appearances for Middlesbrough last term with 11 of them in the last 12 matches and is 11/1 with Sky Bet to be the division’s top goalscorer this season.
• Oxford United are 11/8 favourites with Sky Bet to be relegated which seems worth a flutter, but Cardiff appeal even more at 9/2 with Bet Victor.
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