Exclusive: Jermaine Pennant makes promotion prediction involving Watford and Southampton | OneFootball

Former Arsenal winger Jermaine Pennant believes Watford and Southampton will both be promoted to the Premier League at the end of this term, speaking exclusively to Football League World.

The Championship is extremely competitive this season, with three massive teams coming down from the top flight and three exceptional teams making the step up from League One.

All three relegated sides, Leeds United, Leicester City and Southampton, still have some excellent players at their disposal despite the sales of Rodrigo, James Maddison, James Ward-Prowse and others, and all look set to be competitive if Daniel Farke can bring enough additions to Elland Road before the deadline passes.

And the promoted sides dominated the third tier last season, with Sheffield Wednesday finishing in third place with 96 points.

That's a remarkable total and would have clinched the Owls a top-two spot during many other third-tier seasons. They prevailed in the play-offs in the end - and fully deserve their place in the second tier.

What did Jermaine Pennant say about Watford and Southampton?

Unsurprisingly, Pennant picked out the Saints as a side that are likely to be promoted, but he also went with the Hornets as a potentially surprising option.

Speaking to FLW, he said: "I'm going to go with Watford, they've had a great start and look really strong. And probably Southampton.

"I know they're going to lose one of their key players but the amount of money that they're going to be getting, potentially if Lavia goes as well, they could definitely strengthen and get the right players for the Championship to get them promoted.

"So they will definitely not be finished in the transfer market. So I think as a squad, they've got depth and with the new additions that they'll probably make, they should [get promoted]."

Will Watford and Southampton secure promotion?

The Hornets had a rough 2022/23 campaign but have made a strong start to this term, winning four points from a possible six.

They may have been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Stevenage, but the league is the only thing that will matter to them this term as they look to assert themselves as genuine promotion contenders.

Their boss Valerien Ismael was able to guide Barnsley to a top-six spot against all odds at the end of the 2020/21 campaign - and has a talented set of players at his disposal this term despite the departures of Joao Pedro and Ismaila Sarr.

Tom Ince could be an underrated signing considering how well he did at Reading last season, with his contributions giving the Berkshire side a chance of staying up before he spent the latter stages of the campaign out injured.

The Saints are in an even stronger position than the Hornets though, even with Tino Livramento and James Ward-Prowse departing the club with Romeo Lavia potentially set to follow them out the exit door.

They have a squad that's packed with players that have played in the top flight before - and like Watford - they have also taken four points from their opening two games.

Their 4-4 draw against Norwich City last weekend reinforces the work that needs to be done in defence, but they look set to be one of the strongest teams in the division this season.