Category: News

🚨 UPDATE, May 2026: Daniel Farke was not sacked. Leeds United survived their first Premier League season back in the top flight, finishing 15th with a remarkable second-half turnaround. Farke described the achievement as one of the proudest of his career. Read on for the full story of the November 2025 crisis, the betting market at the time, and how Leeds pulled clear of relegation.

When Daniel Farke’s Leeds United lost four of their first five Premier League matches after the international break in November 2025, the betting markets moved quickly. The club had won the Championship title the previous season with 100 points and won promotion in style, but the step up to the top flight had exposed familiar vulnerabilities, and with Leeds sitting 16th, just one point above the relegation zone, speculation about Farke’s future became the dominant story around Elland Road.

The German had already faced questions over his Premier League record before the season started, having been relegated from the top flight previously with Norwich City. As results deteriorated in the autumn, that history was raised again by sections of the fanbase and by bookmakers who opened a next manager market with several credible names at the top.

The November 2025 Odds Market

Odds correct at time of original publication, 11 November 2025.

Candidate	Odds	Implied Chance
Marco Rose	6/4	40.0%
Brendan Rodgers	3/1	25.0%
Steven Gerrard	5/1	16.7%

Marco Rose at 6/4 (Did Not Get the Job)

Marco Rose led the market at 6/4 having been out of work since leaving RB Leipzig earlier in 2025. The German coach had a strong managerial track record spanning spells at Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund, Salzburg and Leipzig, and had guided Leipzig to their first major trophy by winning the DFB-Pokal. With a career win rate of around 58 per cent and availability at short notice, Rose was a logical candidate for a club that needed an experienced manager capable of keeping a newly promoted side in the Premier League. As it turned out, Farke was never replaced and Rose’s availability in the market became irrelevant.

Brendan Rodgers at 3/1 (Did Not Get the Job)

Brendan Rodgers was priced at 3/1 following his exit from Celtic, where his second spell had ended amid reported tensions with the club’s hierarchy. He brought extensive Premier League experience from his time at Swansea, Liverpool and Leicester, including a title challenge at Anfield and a remarkable FA Cup and League Cup double at the King Power, and his ability to work with limited resources and develop young players made him a credible name in survival situations. His presence in the market at 3/1 reflected genuine interest from the betting public, though the job never became available.

Steven Gerrard at 5/1 (Did Not Get the Job)

Steven Gerrard at 5/1 was the more speculative entry in the market. His managerial career had included an impressive unbeaten title-winning season with Rangers and a difficult 40-game spell at Aston Villa before being replaced by Unai Emery, followed by an equally unsuccessful stint at Saudi side Al-Ettifaq. His name carries significant weight in English football and his Rangers record demonstrated a genuine capacity for building winning environments, but his recent record at Premier League and international level made him a riskier option than the other names in the market.

How Farke Turned It Around

The turning point in Leeds’ season came around early December 2025, when Farke made a significant tactical adjustment, switching from his usual 4-2-3-1 shape to a 3-5-2 that gave the team greater defensive solidity and allowed the wing-backs more freedom to contribute to attacks. The change had an almost immediate effect on results and performances. From 3 December onwards, Leeds were among the better sides in the division by points per game, goal differential and expected goal differential, a dramatic contrast with the chaotic first three months of the season.

Central to the transformation was Ethan Ampadu, who was named Leeds’ Player of the Season for his performances in the defensive midfield role. The Wales international became the heartbeat of the team, his composure and reading of the game giving Farke the platform to be more expansive higher up the pitch. Anton Stach also played a significant role in the second half of the season before an injury in the closing weeks ended his campaign early, with the German having played himself into contention for Germany’s World Cup squad before the setback.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin finished as the club’s top scorer with 12 Premier League goals and 13 in all competitions, a tally that justified the club’s decision to sign him in the summer and gave Leeds a reliable focal point in a team that had struggled badly for goals earlier in the season. Joe Rodon established himself as one of the more impressive defenders outside the traditional top six, his form in the back three drawing widespread recognition in the second half of the season.

Leeds’ FA Cup Run

Beyond their league survival, Leeds reached the FA Cup semi-finals in the 2025-26 season, a run that gave the squad considerable confidence and gave supporters some memorable days before a defeat to Arsenal at Wembley ended the dream. The cup run generated significant income and raised the profile of several squad players who might otherwise have had limited opportunities, and Farke pointed to it as an important factor in building belief within the group during one of the most testing periods of his managerial career.

How the Season Ended

Leeds finished 15th in the Premier League with 38 points from 38 matches, securing their top-flight status with enough comfort in the final weeks of the season after the early panic of November had become a distant memory. Their final game was a trip to West Ham on the last day of the season, with Farke naming a strong side and using the occasion to give credit to a squad that had shown the kind of collective resilience that survival battles require.

Farke described the finish as a great achievement given where the club had been in November and the scale of the challenge they had faced on returning to the Premier League after two seasons in the Championship. The club’s average home attendance of 36,774 across the season reflected the support Elland Road gave the team throughout, even during the darkest weeks of autumn.

For more next manager odds coverage across the Premier League, see our Next Premier League Manager to Be Sacked tracker and the Don Hutchison interview in which the former Scotland midfielder discussed Farke’s position and Leeds’ form in detail during the difficult period.

All odds correct at time of original publication, November 2025. Please gamble responsibly. For help with problem gambling visit GambleAware.org. 18+.

🚨 RESULT: Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Norwich City, Hillsborough, 5 November 2025. Barry Bannan scored for Wednesday in the 4th minute, Mathias Kvistgaarden equalised for Norwich in the 61st. Read on for the full match report, pre-match odds and how both clubs’ seasons ultimately played out.

When Sheffield Wednesday hosted Norwich City at Hillsborough on a Tuesday evening in November 2025, the match was billed as a relegation six-pointer between two struggling sides. Wednesday were bottom of the Championship with a negative points tally after an early six-point deduction, while Norwich sat just a point above them in what was shaping up to be a difficult season for both clubs. The game ended 1-1, a result that served neither side particularly well, though the context that surrounded Wednesday’s season made the final standings look very different by the time May arrived.

Match Details

Detail	Information
Competition	EFL Championship, Round 14
Date	Wednesday 5 November 2025
Venue	Hillsborough, Sheffield
Kick-off	19:45 GMT
Attendance	28,156
Referee	Edward Duckworth

Pre-Match Betting Odds

Bookmakers narrowly favoured Norwich heading into the match, reflecting their slightly better league position and more potent attack. Both sides had struggled badly for goals across the preceding weeks, with just three combined goals in their last five matches between them. Wednesday had conceded 25 goals in 13 league games before the match, while Norwich had registered 50 shots in their previous five outings but converted only one, a troubling combination of attacking intent and wastefulness that had kept them marooned near the bottom of the table.

The value proposition pre-match was Norwich Draw No Bet given their marginally sharper attack and Wednesday’s defensive record, though the form of both sides made any prediction difficult with confidence.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Norwich City: Match Report

Wednesday made the perfect start when Barry Bannan put them ahead in the 4th minute, the experienced midfielder capitalising on an early defensive lapse to give the hosts a lead that the Hillsborough crowd greeted with considerable relief. It was Wednesday’s captain at his most composed, and the goal gave Pedersen’s side exactly the platform they had been lacking in recent weeks.

Norwich dominated possession for much of the first half at 54 per cent but failed to convert their pressure into a leveller before the break, with Wednesday showing the defensive resilience that had been largely absent in previous matches. The hosts had 15 shot attempts across the full game to Norwich’s 13, though the quality of chances was limited on both sides throughout the opening 45 minutes.

The equaliser arrived on 61 minutes when Mathias Kvistgaarden, introduced as a second-half substitute, drew Norwich level with a goal assisted by Josh Sargent. The American striker, who had been central to Norwich’s attacking play throughout the season, created the chance with a run that exposed Wednesday’s defensive shape and Kvistgaarden converted cleanly. Neither side could find a winner in the remaining half hour, with Wednesday’s nine corner kicks reflecting a degree of pressure in the closing stages that ultimately came to nothing. The draw did little to ease the concerns of either camp.

Goals and Scorers

Time	Player	Team
4′	Barry Bannan	Sheffield Wednesday
61′	Mathias Kvistgaarden	Norwich City

Sheffield Wednesday’s Season: A Historic Collapse

The draw at Hillsborough on 5 November was one of the more positive results of an utterly catastrophic 2025-26 campaign for Sheffield Wednesday. The season had been marked by financial crisis from its earliest stages, with players going unpaid on multiple occasions during the summer, a registration embargo preventing the club from making competitive signings, and owner Dejphon Chansiri eventually confirming he would sell the club after months of escalating chaos.

The crisis came to a head in October 2025 when Wednesday entered administration, triggering an immediate 12-point deduction that left them on minus four points. A further six-point deduction followed in December for multiple breaches of EFL payment obligation regulations, compounding a situation that had already made survival practically impossible. The club cycled through seven different goalkeepers across the season due to a combination of injuries and the inability to make permanent signings.

Wednesday’s relegation was confirmed on 22 February 2026, when they lost 2-1 to fierce rivals Sheffield United in the Steel City derby, making them the first club in English Football League history to be relegated in February. They had won only one league match since September and set the record for the longest winless run in Championship history at 39 games. Their final position was 24th with a heavily negative points total, and their drop into League One represented the lowest point in the club’s modern era.

Norwich City’s Season: Steady but Unfulfilling

Norwich’s 2025-26 Championship campaign told a very different story from Wednesday’s, though it was not without its own frustrations. The Canaries settled into a mid-table position after a difficult start and finished the season in 9th place, a respectable outcome but some way short of the promotion push many had expected given their squad strength and the investment made during the summer.

Josh Sargent, who had featured prominently in the November draw at Hillsborough, left the club in the January transfer window in a move that generated considerable discussion. His departure was described by ESPN as having potentially significant implications for the United States national team’s World Cup preparations, given the timing of his exit and his importance to the USMNT setup. Borja Sainz continued to be the team’s standout performer, finishing as one of the Championship’s top scorers for the second consecutive season and attracting interest from Premier League clubs heading into the summer.

Norwich’s 5-0 win at West Brom in January 2026 was among the Championship’s most notable results of the season, and their overall points tally of 58 from 46 games reflected a team capable of competing without consistently delivering the quality needed to challenge for the top six.

How to Watch Championship Football

All Championship matches are broadcast live on Sky Sports under the EFL’s five-year deal with the broadcaster, with over 1,000 EFL matches shown live each season across Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports+. ITV also shows ten live Championship matches per season alongside the weekly EFL Highlights programme on ITV4 every Saturday at 9pm. For full details, visit our Championship TV Schedule 2026/27 guide.

All odds correct at time of original publication, November 2025. Please gamble responsibly. For help with problem gambling visit GambleAware.org. 18+.

Portsmouth and Wrexham face off in a crucial EFL Championship clash at Fratton Park on Tuesday, 5 November, with both sides heading into the fixture on contrasting runs of form.

While Portsmouth are desperate to halt a difficult spell and climb away from the lower reaches of the table, Wrexham arrive buoyed by recent results and looking to push further into mid-table contention.

For Portsmouth, this midweek match represents a chance to reset after a frustrating campaign that has yielded more promise than end product. Colby Bishop remains central to their attacking threat despite a recent goal drought, with his work rate and physicality continuing to cause problems for opposition defences. In midfield, captain Marlon Pack will again be key, setting the tempo and dictating play in what promises to be a tightly contested battle in the centre of the park.

Wrexham, on the other hand, are beginning to find momentum. Kieffer Moore has been their standout performer, netting four goals in his last five matches and proving to be one of the division’s most clinical finishers. Alongside the experienced Matty James, who anchors Wrexham’s midfield with calm assurance, Moore’s form gives the visitors plenty of confidence heading into this encounter.

The statistics underline the difference in recent fortunes.

Wrexham have scored six goals in their last five league games, three times Portsmouth’s tally over the same period and that attacking sharpness could prove decisive under the Fratton Park floodlights. Portsmouth’s defence has conceded 17 goals this season, and with Wrexham showing greater efficiency in front of goal, the visitors may fancy their chances of another valuable away result.

Both managers prefer a 4-2-3-1 system, which should make for a congested and physical midfield battle. Portsmouth typically favour short, quick passing to build play, while Wrexham are more direct, often threatening on the counter-attack. With both sides disciplined yet combative Portsmouth committing 32 fouls to Wrexham’s 52 across their last five outings, the outcome may hinge on which team can stay composed when the pressure mounts.

Given current form, a hard-fought and low-scoring contest looks likely.

Wrexham’s superior recent goal return and attacking confidence may just give them the edge, but with Portsmouth fighting to steady their season, this is shaping up to be a tense and tactical night at Fratton Park.