Norwich City and Watford are favorites to return to the Premier League

Can Norwich City and Watford return to the Premier League in just one season?

The two relegated EPL sides are the top two favorites to win the English League championship and return to the top flight for the 2023-24 season. Norwich City sits at +500 to only have one season in the Championship, while Watford sits at +650 at BetMGM

Norwich have been relegated from the EPL six times, a record, and their last two EPL appearances have each lasted a year. The Canaries were relegated after the 2019/20 season and returned to the EPL for 2021/22 after winning the championship.

A 2022-23 league win would mean two League Two titles and two relegations in the last four seasons. It’s quite a rollercoaster ride.

Watford also spent just one year in the Championship before returning to the Premier League in 2021-22. Relegated after five years in the top flight after the 2019/20 season, Watford finished second to Norwich in May 2021 to return to the EPL. But Watford was 19th a season ago while Norwich City were 20th.

Burnley were the other team relegated from the EPL in May and they open the Championship season at +1200 to win the league. Burnley have lost key players including defenders James Tarkowski, Nathan Collins and Ben Mee, as well as goalkeeper Nick Pope as the team are relegated to the Second Division for the first time since 2015-16. Burnley spent just one season in the Championship before returning to the Premier League for six seasons.

The top two teams in the championship standings at the end of the season are automatically promoted to the Premier League, while teams No. 3-6 participate in a four-team play-off for third promotion spot. Norwich City is +135 to be promoted in any way while Watford is +190 and Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield United are +275 to be promoted. Rotherham United go into the second tier season with the worst promotion odds of any team at +3300.

A whopping 14 teams have promotion chances between +600 and +1200 – a clear sign that the championship in midfield looks very balanced.

The story goes on

Each team in the Championship plays 46 games and the 2022-23 season begins on Friday when Burnley visits Huddersfield Town. Wigan and Sunderland joined Rotherham as the other two teams from League One were promoted to the 2022-23 Championship, while Peterborough, Derby County and Barnsley were relegated to League One for the season.

chances of winning the championship

• Norwich City (+500)

• Watford (+650)

• West Bromwich Albion (+800)

• Middlesbrough (+900)

• Sheffield United (+900)

• Burnley (+1200)

• Huddersfield Town (+2000)

• Stoke City (+2000)

• Blackburn Rovers (+2500)

• Cardiff (+2500)

• Coventry (+2500)

• City of Luton (+2500)

• Queen’s Park Rangers (+2500)

• Sunderland (+2500)

• Swansea City (+2500)

• Hull City (+3300)

• Millwall (+3300)

• Wigan Athletic (+3300)

• Preston North End (+4000)

• Blackpool (+5000)

• Bristol City (+5000)

• Birmingham City (+6600)

• Read (+8000)

• Rotherham United (+10000)

EPL promotion rates

• Norwich City (+135)

• Watford (+190)

• Middlesbrough (+275)

• Sheffield United (+275)

• West Bromwich Albion (+275)

• Burnley (+350)

• Swansea City (+600)

• Stoke City (+650)

• Huddersfield Town (+700)

• Sunderland (+750)

• Blackburn Rovers (+800)

• Coventry (+800)

• City of Luton (+800)

• Millwall (+800)

• Queen’s Park Rangers (+800)

• Cardiff (+900)

• Hull City (+900)

• Wigan Athletic (+900)

• Blackpool (+1200)

• Preston North End (+1200)

• Bristol City (+1600)

• Birmingham City (+2000)

• Read (+2000)

• Rotherham United (+3300)