Championship Title Race Betting Odds: Leeds, Sheffield United & Burnley Braced for Run-In
Will Jackson 
We're heading into the final straight of the Championship season, and there is still plenty to play for with three teams battling it out for the two automatic promotion places.
Just a few weeks ago it looked as though Leeds had one of the places all-but sewn up with a seven-point lead from Burnley, but that has quickly been whittled back down to two with eight games to play.
It's true that Leeds remain the clear favourites with all betting sites to not only finish in the top two, but win the Championship, but how are the three sides shaping up as we head into the final weeks of the season?
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points |
| Leeds | 38 | 23 | 11 | 4 | 80 |
| Sheffield United | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 80 |
| Burnley | 38 | 21 | 15 | 2 | 78 |
Championship Winner Odds
If you were looking to use a free bet or just back someone generally to finish top, you wouldn't be getting much value for money from backing Leeds.
They are clear favourites to finish top, despite a run of just one win in their last four matches.
They have a much kinder run-in in terms of fixtures - more on that later - but given the memories of last year's capitulation towards the end of the season, it certainly doesn't feel as nailed on as the bookies are making it out to be.
The form books would suggest that Burnley are the form team. They are two points behind but have won three of the last four and look to have solved their goalscoring issues of earlier in the season.
Sheffield United meanwhile would be top had they not been deducted two points at the start of the season. When you take all this mitigation into account, the title race is looking a lot closer than these odds would suggest.
Leeds - 80 Points
It feels like Leeds have been the frontrunners for the Championship title all season, but you actually only have to go back to Boxing Day for the first time they really put their stamp at the top of the table.
Yet despite patchy away form, goalkeeping howlers and faltering recent form, they've been favourites with the bookies pretty much the whole way through and that's not changing.
The back-to-back wins over Sunderland and Sheffield United a couple of weeks ago - both of which required last-minute winners - looked like it should mark a bit of a procession for a side widely regarded as having the strongest squad in the league, but it hasn't turned out that way.
Most neutrals would look at the table, the fixtures and the players and say Leeds are within touching distance of a Premier League return, but fans know only too well that it is a club that tends to make life difficult for themselves.
There is also a concern too that it is this time last season when Daniel Farke's side faltered badly and ran out of gas. A recent run of one win in four games, a lack of rotation and tired players has raised that question in the minds of quite a few supporters.
Leeds Next Game Odds
Leeds Recent Form (Most Recent Last)
WDLWD
Leeds Remaining Fixtures
Luton v Leeds
Middlesbrough v Leeds
Leeds v Preston
Oxford v Leeds
Leeds v Stoke
Leeds v Bristol City
Plymouth v Leeds
Sheffield United - 80 Points
It doesn't feel like they have set many pulses racing or really caught the imagination, but Sheffield United have been very steady in the Championship this season and have pretty much been a constant presence in the top two.
After the disastrous relegation of last season, most commentators would have had the Blades struggling to regain their footing this campaign but it is to Chris Wilder's immense credit that they have been able to bounce back in such style.
They were deducted two points at the start of the season but since then they have picked up more points than anyone else.
Okay so they don't have the best defence or the best attack, but do Sheffield United have the best all-round game?
It's hard to pinpoint exactly where their games are won and lost. They have an excellent goalkeeper but no standout attacking players who have recorded significant numbers this season, so on that basis you would look at it and say they are potentially the team who could drop out of the top two between now and May.
But they just seem to pick wins up, and usually by the odd goal, which their last four victories have been by. Apart from a trip to Turf Moor in April, there's not much to be worried about from a fixture list point of view, so the Blades should be fairly confident at building on a run of three wins in four.
Sheffield United Next Game Odds
Sheffield United Recent Form (Most Recent Last)
LWWDW
Sheffield United Remaining Fixtures
Sheffield United v Coventry
Oxford v Sheffield United
Sheffield United v Millwall
Plymouth v Sheffield United
Sheffield United v Cardiff
Burnley v Sheffield United
Stoke v Sheffield United
Sheffield United v Blackburn
Burnley - 78 Points
At the start of the season, you wouldn't have gone far wrong if you'd have considered Burnley favourites to finish top of the Championship.
Yes they had a difficult year in the Premier League but in Scott Parker they hired someone who has plenty of experience in getting out of the division, and they had a squad who performed so brilliantly under Vincent Kompany only two year previously.
It took quite a bit of time for the Clarets to find their groove, and they took plenty of stick for their lack of goalless and numerous draws both home and away.
It did look as though those draws would cost them in the end - and they may yet do - but gradually, it looks as though they have turned the corner.
As our EFL expert Gab Sutton has pointed out this week, the Clarets were the 11th top-scorers in the league when signing Marcus Edwards on deadline day, but have since scored 16 in eight games with him in the side.
Nobody in the division has more in that time. And considering Burnley have conceded just 11 goals all season, adding at the other end of the pitch all of a sudden makes them look a fantasticly-rounded side, and one that could take some stopping.
In the league they are unbeaten since early November but more importantly it's four wins in five. The game at home to Sheffield United looms large as a potential decider, but you wouldn't have to be a football tip expert to fancy them to come through it.
Burnley Next Game Odds
Burnley Recent Form (Most Recent Last)
WWWDW
Burnley Remaining Fixtures
Burnley v Bristol City
Coventry v Burnley
Derby v Burnley
Burnley v Norwich
Watford v Burnley
Burnley v Sheffield United
QPR v Burnley
Burnley v Millwall
Clinton Morrison's View
The Freebets team caught up with Clinton Morrison earlier this week to discuss the Championship run-in and ask him for his view on who will go up:
Q: The Championship title race is really going to the wire after it looked done a couple of weeks ago. Are you still sticking by your Leeds tip?
I can't change my mind, even though they are making it probably a bit nervous for all the Leeds fans at the moment! They have maybe got some bad memories from last season, but I still think Leeds are strong enough.
The three teams are within touching distance of each other, but I still think Leeds will finish top. Sheffield United got a massive game against Coventry tomorrow night so that's a huge football match for them but they're relentless at the moment and then you've got Burnley who just are not going away at the moment.
It's gonna go right down to the wire. That's why we love the EFL and The Championship. It's such a hard one to call at the moment. I could say Leeds and then it could change around in a couple of weeks.
I always say over the Easter period it's a massive time because you play like two or three days back to back. That kind of determines who out of those big games. Burnley have still got to play Sheffield United as well, I think so that could be a make-or-break game to see who finishes in second place.
But if you told me I could go up through the play-off final and were going to win it, I'd take it that way all day, every day rather than finish second, but it’s too much of a risk.
