The 2024/25 EFL season is set to get underway tomorrow (9 August) with games across the Championship, League One and League Two.

Ahead of the season starting, the Racing Post released The Big Kick-off hosted by Dave Clark. The show featured the Racing Post’s Sports Director, Mark Langdon, James Milton, Sports Journalist at the Racing Post, and professional punter Nick Goff, who all provided their best bets across the three leagues.

Championship

Looking first at the Championship, all three experts agreed that last season’s beaten play-off finalists Leeds United are favourites to win the title and return to the Premier League at their second attempt. 

The Whites are currently 7/2 to win the league with the show’s sponsor Unibet.

Goff said: “Everything’s right for Leeds this year in what looks like a much weaker championship than last year. Last year three or four teams at the top were unusually good and to get the points that Leeds got and not go up was extremely unfortunate. 

“They’ve lost Summerville, an excellent player, and Archie Gray, but they’ve got this link up with Red Bull which will allow them to go and bring new players in. They’re going to go and sign good players worth any money that does come in. The gap between them and the rest at the end of last season was so big that I don’t see how anyone in this league where money is now at a premium closes that gap. “

Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United have all dropped down into the Championship after being relegated last season from the Premier League, however, Langdon doesn’t believe any of the three will be good enough to prevent Leeds winning the title.

He said: “Sheffield United got an awful points tally last season. Chris Wilder did well previously but maybe has a bit to prove. The vibes aren’t great coming out of Bramall Lane, they’re losing what good players they had and I don’t think they are making too many signings.

“Luton felt like a freak went they went up, it was an unbelievable job but they looked like a Championship team in the Premier League and I wouldn’t fancy them to beat Leeds. Burnley are the ones that I think a lot of people are going for but I’m not sold on Scott Parker. I’m looking around and they have a massive squad and I’m not quite sure what their starting 11 is going to be come the first game.”

Turning their attention to the other end of the table, Langdon offered up Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth (9/4 with Unibet) as his favourites for relegation. 

He said: I’m not sure whether [Rooney] will last the season if things don’t go well. He’s got a lot to prove it’s fair to say and they weren’t safe until that final game of the season last year. They rely so much on their home form and the goals of Whittaker, if anything happens to him you wonder how bad they can be.”

Goff described the relegation market as a “real pig because there are about eight to ten teams you can make a case for”, and he suggested that Millwall (7/2) and Portsmouth (5/1) could be in trouble. 

Title favourites Leeds have been linked with Norwich City winger Jonathan Rowe in recent days and Rowe was Langdon’s pick for top goal scorer.

He described the English youngster as a “Premier League player in waiting” and somebody who can “play as a ten and also out wide”. Rowe scored 12 goals in 34 appearances last season for Norwich and is currently 33/1 to win the Championship’s Golden Boot.

League one

Moving down a division, newly-relegated Birmingham City are 2/1 favourites to win the league and make a return to the Championship at the first time of asking. The Blues have splashed the cash in the off-season, spending over £10m on signings from across the English football pyramid and Europe.

Despite this, the Racing Post’s experts said that they couldn’t back Birmingham to win the league, citing the fact that their new manager Chris Davies has never managed before and also some of their signings are unknown quantities in English football.

As an alternative, Bolton Wanderers were suggested as a solid each-way bet to get promoted out of League One.

Langdon said: “Bolton are a team that have progressed well under Ian Evatt. The only thing they’ve got to do is get over the fact that they were so bad in the League One play-off final. The fact that they’ve stuck with most of the players [from the final] I see as a positive. These teams that bring 12 in and let 12 go don’t do it for me. Bolton are a solid side that should be there or thereabouts.”

In terms of the top goal scorer, Milton said that Rhys Healey from promotion hopefuls Huddersfield Town is his pick for the Golden Boot.

“He’s had bad injury problems but was prolific for Toulouse in Ligue Two in France a couple of years ago. He came back to the Championship last season and then moved on to Huddersfield. I think he’s a natural finisher and he’s played in League One before, scoring 11 times in 15 starts for MK Dons. Fitness permitting he could have a decent season.”

Healey scored 39 goals in 77 games during his time in France with Toulouse and bagged five goal in 22 games last season, although he only started six games across his spells at Watford and Huddersfield.

Healey is currently 28/1 with Unibet to be the league’s top goalscorer. 

Other options suggested were Charlton Athletics’ Matt Godden and Blackpool Town’s Jordan Rhodes, who are both at 25/1.

League Two

Last but not least, the experts moved on to dissect League Two. Between them, they picked out Doncaster Rovers and MK Dons as their favourites to top the table at the end of the season.

MK Dons reached the playoffs last year however were beaten 8-1 on aggregate by Crawley Town – who went on to win the final. 

Goff described MK Dons as “the best team” in the league and said they should be “clear favourites.

On MK Dons’ chances, Milton added: “Mike Williamson impressed last season and they’ve made some good summer signings in Liam Kelly and Lawrence McGuire who were both promoted with Crawley.

“[They] lost in the playoffs last season but I feel like losing 8-1 on aggregate is easier to brush off than losing on penalties in the final, so hopefully they won’t be too much of a hangover and they look really solid each way at 8/1.”

Disagreeing with the other two, Langford went with Doncaster, who also lost in the play-off semi-finals last season, as his favourites to win the league.

He said: “From New Year’s Day onwards they accumulated the most points in League Two. It was a good League Two last year so the fact that Doncaster were able to get those 46 points [was impressive]. There was a reason for their slow start as they had a lot of injuries so I don’t think it came from nowhere that they suddenly became a good team.

“They’ve kept most of what they had together. Mccan has mainly managed at a higher level than this previously. They would have been kicking themselves that they lost to Crewe [Alexandra] in that play-off semi-final as they probably would have fancied their chances to go up in the play-offs but I think they delayed the inevitable and they can go back up [this year].”

Doncaster are currently 9/1 to win the league outright and MK Dons are 7/1.

At the other end of the table, the experts suggested Cheltenham Town (14/1) and Harrogate Town (7/2) as the main contenders to drop into the National League.

Describing his reasoning for picking Harrogate, Milton said: “I feel like they’re treading water a bit, finishing 17th, 19th and 19th in their first three seasons in the EFL. They finished 13th last season but finished pretty much limping over the line.

“They’ve lost one of their key players in Abraham Odoh who has gone to Peterborough so they could struggle. But again, it’s a tough betting heat because there are sides working on very limited budgets down there.”

Rounding out their preview of the EFL, the trio offered up two new signings in MK Don’s Callum Hendry (16/1) and Port Vale’s Ruari Paton (25/1) as their picks for top goalscorer.