Aston Villa and Derby County will be competing with Sheffield Wednesday for promotion next season.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal has told the Sheffield Star that he is anticipating a much more difficult Championship next season.
Wednesday missed out on promotion after failing in the play offs for the second season running.
And Carvalhal has suggested that just making the top six next term, could be difficult.
The Portuguese boss feels that Aston Villa and Derby County will be among the clubs who improve, after disappointing campaigns this time around.
“It will be more difficult,” Carvalhal said. “There were teams like Huddersfield, Leeds and Fulham who challenged for promotion last season who people didn’t expect.
“There were some teams who we expected to be involved in the play-offs like Norwich, Derby and Aston Villa who will be more strong next season.”
Villa and Derby went into this season as two of the favourites for promotion, but failed to live up to expectations.
Villa could only manage to finish in a mid-table spot, and Derby didn’t fare much better.
The Rams ended the campaign in ninth place – 13 points away from the play off spots.
Both Villa and Derby are expected to make serious alterations to their squad this summer, as they prepare for the new term.
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