David Prutton’s Championship score predictions

David Prutton’s Championship score predictions have been revealed ahead of the next round of matches for the 2025/26 season.

The ex-Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Leeds, Swindon, Sheffield Wednesday, and England U21 footballer who currently works as a presenter, pundit, and commentator, has given his verdict.

Watch plenty of games live across Sky Sports with highlights of the other EFL matches on Sky Sports News, ITV and YouTube.

It’s set up to be another exciting season, with many soccer scores to keep an eye on across the world.

Sky Sports duo Simeon Gholam and David Prutton gave a preview heading into the next game of the regular season, predicting the results of every fixture; listen to the podcast below or via any of your regular podcast providers. Transcribed with the help of TurboScribe!

PRESTON v OXFORD

Simeon: Preston have slumped a little, just one win in nine, drifted right off the playoff pace. Oxford huge win over West Brom last time out has taken them to within three points of safety. A win here on Friday night at Deepdale would lift them out of the bottom three for the first time this calendar year and the first time on the Bloomfield. Might not be there by the end of the weekend if they do win, but it would be a huge boost, wouldn’t it?

David: It’d be massive.

Simeon: Practise against an ailing Preston who’ve dwindled in recent weeks in terms of what we saw from them earlier in the season.

David: Yeah. It’s a strange one, isn’t it? They’ve obviously been stung in recent games very, very late on and not seen games out. So that’ll be a huge sense of frustration for Paul Heckingbottom. But you spoke to Matt, you know what he’s like, he’s perennially enthusiastic and optimistic. We saw that as he was attempting to lead Luton away from danger. Now he finds himself in quite a similar position with Oxford United, but seemingly maybe the expectation is slightly less, only slightly. There’s obviously a want and a need to stay in the division. But I think what they’ve done recently gives them a real sense of being in touching distance, because how do the other teams react to that? Leicester, we’ve seen, nowhere near it. West Brom, we’ve seen, nowhere near it. And Blackburn and Pompey, we don’t quite know as yet. So if not Oxford, then why not Oxford, hey?

Simeon: They look like one of the teams down there, particularly when you look at the two sides above them, they have that real grit and belief and work ethic.

David: They do.

Simeon: Some above us have maybe been accused of lacking, Preston, it’s win or bust here, probably Friday night for playoff hopes, isn’t it? In terms of, at the very least, getting back motoring in the right direction ahead of a really big week and obviously a winnable home game for them as well.

David: Yeah, I think, obviously, they were looking really nicely in the top six, but they’ve, by virtue of their results and performances, they’ve put a fair bit of traffic between themselves. And you’ve got to look at the teams up in and around it that are in unbelievable form, aren’t they? So I think from Paul’s point of view, tremendous season so far. They just don’t want it to peter out now when it’s getting towards the business end.

Simeon: Oxford perhaps have not won at Deepdale since 1983, but they’ve only played there twice since. What’s the score going to be at Deepdale?

David Prutton’s score prediction: 1-1 draw

BLACKBURN v PORTSMOUTH

Simeon:  Blackburn followed up two wins under Michael O’Neill with two defeats. They led both Bristol City and Derby last week but conspired to lose both of those games. They are a point and a place behind Portsmouth heading into the weekend. Blackburn are four points above the bottom three heading into the weekend. Portsmouth, five points above the bottom three heading into the weekend. That of course might change depending what happens on Friday night but this is no less a big game between two sides who are at the wrong end of the table trying to get to the slightly less wrong end of the table.

David: Yeah and it was looking, I mean obviously we’ve spoken the last couple of weeks about the injuries that John Mousinho has got to deal with and when we saw those back-to-back wins against Charlton and Millwall, they might have thought there’d be some clear between themselves in the bottom three but the last two results against Wrexham and Hull City show that they’re still very much in the thick of it all and Blackburn again, you’ve got two teams with a very similar recent record. Michael O’Neill giving them potentially that bump which we saw in that first game against Preston but I mean it’s going to take a hell of a job from the manager to make sure they get to safety but a team’s there by virtue of what they’ve done so far this season. Yes he’s got a short amount of time to try and sort it out but let’s be honest you’ve got two teams there that are absolutely banging trouble and very very very close to each other in the division. This is, I’m not quite saying it’s a six-pointer but it’s a big big game and for not just for points reasons but mentally can they strike a blow against a near opponent that’s vying for safety.

Simeon: Portsmouth’s last win at Ewood Park came in September 2007, that was in the Premier League perhaps. They’ve failed to win any of the four since and those games have come across three different tiers. They’ve played each other in the Premier League, the Championship and League One in that time. cThey’ve also conceded 11 goals in that time and scored just one. Basically the main takeaway from that is Portsmouth haven’t won at Ewood Park in 19 years. What’s the score going to be?

David Prutton’s score prediction: 2-2.

HULL v MILLWALL

Simeon: Hull beaten narrowly Ipswich in midweek from an absolute cracker from Matusiwa. Their fifth heading into the weekend six points off second and seven points above the seventh. Millwall were in fourth two points above Hull. Back-to-back wins against Birmingham at Preston in their last two games to really really affirm their position. This is another big game at the different end of the table to one we’re just talking about the righter end of the table.

David: Cracking game of football. The more positive end of the table. Just a couple of points to separate them. Two teams and two managers that I think have done excellent jobs this season. Now we find out where expectation has turned from optimism, don’t we? Because given how much they’ve been in the running, why not Hull City given the fact that they’ve been in there and we know Alex, we know exactly what his side’s about. We saw them tail off towards the end of last season. He’ll be very very wary of that. Hull City, a fundamentally better campaign than the last one and I think it’s going to be a cracking game this one. We’re looking forward to it. I think it’s a contrast of styles. A contrast of management styles as well. Hull City can have quite a lively bench when it comes to the staff members. So again I’ll be very intrigued to see how that goes down with Alex and his colleagues. So keep an eye out for that as well as what goes on on the pitch. Plenty of fireworks.

Simeon: Should be good. It feels like whoever wins this is still in the race for the top two and maybe whoever doesn’t win is kind of it. What’s the score going to be at the MKM Stadium?

David Prutton’s score prediction: 2-2 again.

QPR v MIDDLESBROUGH

Simeon: QPR have lost their last two and they’ve drifted away from the playoff race. Middlesbrough, big win at Birmingham on Monday night. They head into the weekend three points clear of Ipswich in second. They might not be there by kick-off because obviously Ipswich play on Saturday. So yes bigger game this for Boro than for QPR who have as we’ve said dropped off. They’re one of the drop-off teams so I think we could probably rule out from top six contention. If this was next season they’d probably still be in top eight contention because everyone will be but for now this season it’s very much more about Boro this game.

David: Yeah very true. Yeah 10 points off the top six and given what we’ve seen from Boro in recent fixtures off the back of I mean the questions being asked of a team that was in second and drawn a couple was probably a bit silly wasn’t it given the fact that they were actually top when they took on Coventry. But they were good against Birmingham. Matt Target looking very good indeed and the last day for QPR they were awful against Southampton. The fact they lost at home against Sheffield United as well shows exactly where they find themselves in the season from a results point of view. So yeah I mean the big battle for the home side is to make sure that the rest of the season isn’t just a meandering towards a close but given the form and how Boro have been playing I can’t really see much coming from the game for QPR.

Simeon: Yeah QPR they have had injury issues they’ve lost quite a few of their key players which has derailed them a little bit. Middlesbrough looking as we said Birmingham win on Monday night was pretty impressive even though they were dominated the first 15 minutes until they did score but from then on it was comprehensive. Middlesbrough won they lost four on the spin against QPR perhaps scoring 11 conceding just three. What’s the score going to be?

David Prutton’s score prediction: Boro to win 2-1.

BRISTOL CITY v COVENTRY

Simeon: Bristol City seven points adrift of the playoffs heading into the weekend. Coventry five points clear at the top. What’s the score going to be Ashton Gate?

David Prutton’s score prediction: Coventry to win 2-1.

CHARLTON v BIRMINGHAM

Simeon: Charlton Athletic versus Birmingham City. Charlton seven points clear of the bottom three heading into the weekend. Birmingham eight points off the top six. What’s the score going to be at the Valley?

David Prutton’s score prediction: No wins in four for Charlton, back to back defeats for Birmingham, 1-1.

DERBY v SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

Simeon: Derby six points off the playoffs heading into the weekend after coming back to beat Blackburn last week. Sheffield Wednesday seven points off zero. What’s the score going to be at Pride Park?

David Prutton’s score prediction: Derby to win 2-1.

IPSWICH v LEICESTER

Simeon: Ipswich up to third ahead of the weekend after beating Hull in midweek. A win here lifts them into second for at least 24 hours as we just discussed. Leicester a point adrift of safety headings the weekend which still feels very strange to say. What’s the score going to be at Portman Road?

David Prutton’s score prediction: Ipswich to win 2-0.

SHEFFIELD UNITED v WEST BROM

Simeon: Sheffield United are nine points off the playoffs heading into the weekend. West Brom a point above the bottom three. What’s the score going to be at Bramall Lane?

David Prutton’s score prediction: 2-0 Sheffield United.

SWANSEA v STOKE

David Prutton’s score prediction: I’m going to go for 1-1.

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