Don Goodman weighs in on League One promotion hopefuls Birmingham City, Wrexham and Huddersfield Town | OneFootball

The Sky Sports EFL expert has weighed in on the League One promotion race

EFL pundit Don Goodman has weighed in on the League One promotion race, sharing his thoughts on Birmingham City, Wrexham, and Huddersfield Town after the first two months of the 2024/25 EFL season.

The third tier looks like a tough division to get out of and has already thrown up some surprises - with a number of the pre-season favourites struggling and less fancied sides staking an early claim.

Speaking via Grosvenor Sport, Goodman has turned his attention to three of the sides with aspirations of winning promotion to the Championship in Birmingham, Wrexham and Huddersfield.

Birmingham City may break League One records

League One title favourites Birmingham City have already opened up a five-point lead at the top of the table.

Blues are already seeing the benefits of their American owners' big spending in the summer window. Chris Davies' side are unbeaten in the league this term, winning seven of their eight games and claiming victories against a number of the teams tipped to challenge them for promotion to the Championship this term.

Their most notable win so far came against Wrexham, who were top of the league at the time, last month. Goodman feels the third-tier clash lived up to the hype and has backed Blues to break records this term.

He said: "It was a brilliant occasion, the atmosphere was great and there was so much glitz and glamour with Hollywood A-listers and NFL stars.

"It shone a light on League One, which is brilliant. The game lived up to the hype, it was an excellent match. The exposure it brings to the lower levels of English football is amazing.

"Ultimately it all comes back to what happens on the pitch, with both teams harbouring ambitions of promotion. In Birmingham's case, it would be a massive underperformance if they didn't win the division. They've just won six in a row and came from behind against both Peterborough and Wrexham.

"I've got no doubts that Birmingham City are a Championship team in waiting like Ipswich were, but I'm not saying they'll win consecutive promotions. For me, I'd be disappointed if Birmingham City don't get 100 points and break some League One records."

Wrexham are capable of at least a top-six finish

Though Phil Parkinson's side were beaten at St Andrew's, they've still emerged as one of the frontrunners for automatic promotion and sit second with 17 points from nine games.

Wrexham are pushing for a third consecutive promotion and Goodman has predicted that they will at least be in the mix for the play-offs.

He said: "Before a ball was kicked, I thought it was too much for Wrexham to bridge the gap from the top of League Two to the top of League One. But I was wrong. It's a big gap but they're certainly capable of, at least, a top-six finish. It's probably still premature to say that they can go beyond that.

"If they can produce the level of football that they showed in the first 15 minutes at St Andrew's, then they'll give themselves a real chance of beating the other clubs in League One.

"They went to the best team in the league and had a real go. A lot of people will say that they are one-dimensional, get the ball forward early and get crosses into the box but I saw Wrexham control the ball. They played out of the back, played through the thirds and caused Birmingham problems in a cauldron. Those are the levels they will be hoping to replicate. They're a versatile team, are always a threat from set-pieces and have all the tools.

"When you have the home form that Wrexham do, which is incredible, it makes the Racecourse Ground a hard place to go. Away from home is where they will be tested.

"They play quite a few games against teams in the top half soon. If they can come through those matches and remain within touching distance of the top two, then maybe I'll admit that automatic promotion could be on."

Huddersfield Town backed in promotion race

It's been a tough start to the season for Huddersfield and new boss Michael Duff.

Five defeats in their last six games has left the Terriers down in 15th and piled pressure on Duff but there is a long way to go this term and they are still just three points away from the top six.

Indeed, Goodman is backing Huddersfield and their manager to come good this term.

"A football season is like a rollercoaster, you have your ups and downs," he said. "Huddersfield won four games out of their first five and we all thought 'Wow, they look good' but now they've had a dose of reality and it will hurt them.

"But you need to look at the game against Reading and realise that they had 19 shots, seven on target and a massively superior xG. Reading scored with their only two shots on target. They were unlucky to lose the game.

"There's no reason for Huddersfield to panic but it's disappointing that they've lost four in a row having come down from the Championship.

"But it doesn't get any easier for Huddersfield as they play Barnsley in their next. They need to be resilient and pick up points from those two games before facing teams in the bottom half in the four matches after that.