How the Championship is predicted to finish with good…

How the Championship is predicted to finish with good news for Leeds United but not for Bristol City or Nottingham Forest

The Championship has a new league leader with Preston North End racing to the top of the standings for the first time this season following their 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic on Sunday.

That was against the backdrop of intense speculation surrounding manager Alex Neil with the Scot reportedly identified as Stoke City's preferred candidate after the dismissal of Nathan Jones on Friday.

That only encapsulates the bonkers nature of the Championship that the division's current best team could soon lose their manager to its worst, who could conceivably then become promotion contenders.

Forecasting England's second tier is therefore a devilishly difficult exercise but FiveThirtyEight have arguably the most accurate model.

The brainchild of Nate Silver - one of the 100 most influential people in the world after correctly predicting the outcomes of the 2008 and 2012 US elections - FiveThirtyEight take into consideration a number of factors to determine future performance and are constantly updating to bring the most accurate prediction.

And based on their probability for promotion to the Premier League, they believe Leeds United - who won at the weekdn - and West Brom - who play Stoke on Monday will be taking up the automatic promotion spots.

Below them it's Fulham, who have massively underperformed so far, losing 3-0 to Hull on Saturday, Preston, Brentford and Swansea with Bristol City - who have dropped four points in their last two games to lowly Wigan and Barnsley - missing out on a play-off place once again.

You can see the full forecasted Championship table below.

Leeds United - 68%

West Brom - 39%

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Fulham - 34%

Preston - 23%

Brentford - 23%

Swansea - 17%

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Nottingham Forest - 17%

Cardiff City - 12%

Bristol City - 11%