Stoke Look Spot-On for Promotion at 7/1

Sunderland continue to march towards the Premiership and are now 1/25 (Coral) to return to the promised land next season after beating QPR on Saturday. However, the second automatic spot is still up for grabs and there's loads of teams in contention for the four play-off places and a shot at the big time. Although Derby still reside in second place, they're now just a point ahead of Birmingham and have played a game more than their Midlands rivals. It is for this reason that the Blues are 8/15 (Paddy Power) to go up, while Derby are 5/6 (bet365). Naturally, one of these teams will miss out on automatic promotion and will inevitably drift on the promotion market as a result. Similarly, there are teams in play-off contention whose odds will shrink, providing they can ensure a sixth-placed Championship finish or better. One such team is Stoke City, who are currently 7/1 (Coral) to become a Premiership member club next season. The Potters lie just two points behind Wolves and have home matches against Hull and Colchester to try and cement a play-off spot. West Brom are 3/1 (bet365) to go up this season, while arch-rivals Wolves are 9/2 (Blue Square) to grab that third spot for themselves. Preston are returning to form at the right time and are 4/1 (Blue Square) to jump up a division.