Reasons To Be Cheerful

By way of a bonus offering for our readers, we received this optimistic article from John Furness – with the accent on the present and future rather than the past.

Despite that defeat against Cardiff, Wolves have shown enough in their first four League games to suggest they will be at the top end of the Championship come the end of the campaign.

The signs are that they will be pushing for one of the promotion spots to the Premier League – a feeling underlined by the Carabao Cup win at Southampton that was secured by goals from Danny Batth and Donovan Wilson.

The Championship is known as the toughest and most competitive division in English football, though, so, if you are looking to have a flutter on who will win the title or gain promotion, here is a look at three other likely teams.

Before placing a bet, it may be worth looking out for the best free bets offers 2017-18 so you can take advantage of one of the promotions on the Championship, where Wolves are now the favourite to lift the title in the outright market.

Middlesbrough

After splashing out £15m on Britt Assombalonga from Nottingham Forest, Boro were many people’s tip as champions before a ball was kicked. Although they have had a mixed bag of results so far, once their new signings settle at the Riverside Stadium, they are likely to be a big force as they look to rebound straight back after relegation. Wolves had an excellent 1-0 win over Garry Monk’s side on the opening day but will be in for their usual tough test when they travel to the North East in March.

Cardiff

The surprise package in the Championship so far. The Welsh club have been good value for their four victories, including at Molineux last Saturday. Neil Warnock knows this level inside out and has done good business in the summer, in particular, the free transfer of former Wolves youngster Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. The winger already has five goals for the club and looks a huge threat when cutting inside and aiming at goal. There is obviously a long way to go but it would be no surprise to see the Bluebirds still in the top six at the end of the season.

Aston Villa

Villa fans will expect their side to perform much better than last season and there have been signs in their impressive victories over Norwich and Wigan in the last week that Steve Bruce’s men are heading in the right direction. The signing of John Terry could prove to be huge as his leadership should be invaluable. Villa should score plenty of goals with Scott Hogan and Gabriel Agbonlahor in what on paper looks like one of the strongest squads in the division.

As for Wolves, who still have last season’s Player of the Year Helder Costa to come back from injury, they will be in high spirits as they finish the month at Brentford on Saturday before September starts, the other side of the international break, with back-to-back home games against Millwall and Bristol City.