The Sky Bet Championship is one of the most competitive leagues in the world, but that isn't good news for all 24 teams.

Three teams must go down every single year, and as the standard rises on an annual basis, teams that were established are now being threatened with dropping out of the second tier.

This was demonstrated last season, with ex-Premier League teams Charlton Athletic and Bolton Wanderers both failing to stay up, whilst MK Dons couldn't survive following their promotion from League One last season.

Last season, QPR were expected to go straight back up to the Premier League following their relegation, but flopped and finished 12th.

Leeds are always tipped for bigger and better things, whilst Derby have somehow failed to get promotion out of the Championship despite threatening to do so for three consecutive years.

Here, in the opinion of FLW's Ryan Evans, are THREE Championship teams that will underachieve next season.....

 

Blackburn Rovers

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It's very hard to make a case that Blackburn's ambitions should lie as anything other than securing survival.

They've sold many of their best players for a few seasons now, and whilst they have brought in some decent players, it remains to be seen how they'll perform.

Rudy Gestede moved to Aston Villa last summer for £6 million, Tom Cairney went to Fulham for £3 million, before Jordan Rhodes and Marcus Olsson left for Middlesbrough and Derby in January, derailing their season.

If they are to survive in the Championship next season, they will have to stop selling their best players, although there are no signs of that happening this summer, as clubs circle around captain Grant Hanley and star man Shane Duffy.

Thire decent defence is what kept them out of danger last season, so losing both centre-backs will be the worst thing possible for the club.

In terms of new signings, they've brought in strikers Anthony Stokes, whose six years at Celtic was plagued by regular goal droughts, and Danny Graham from Sunderland, who looked awkward whilst playing at the Stadium of Light and former club Swansea.

The signing of Liam Feeney could be a decent one, but would have to do better than with Bolton last season, where he failed to keep his team up from the drop.

Aston Villa

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Many are expecting for the Birmingham-based giants to bounce straight back up to the top flight this season, as this is the first ever Premier League season not to feature the Villains.

As such, anything other than promotion will be considered failure, and they will be expecting to win the league title.

They were relegated bottom last season, and it was surprising how a squad with so many big names could find themselves in trouble. Personally, I am surprised how Roberto Di Matteo has so far kept most of the big names, as the Championship is a completely different animal to what the club and the players are used to.

The new manager, backed by new owner Dr Tony Xia, has acted in the transfer market to try and build a side capable of going straight back up, bringing in Tommy Elphick from Bournemouth and Reading's highly-rated central midfielder Aaron Tshibola.

However, there are still a few problems with the side. Despite the arrival of Pierluigi Gollini, it's unknown who the number one goalkeeper will be, with Brad Guzan and Mark Bunn still in the squad. On top of this, there are some big names including Ciaran Clark, Joleon Lescott and Micah Richards amongst the Villa defenders, players who failed to leave any impression on fans last season, so why all of a sudden will they do any better this?

Yes it's a lower standard of football in the second tier, but we've seen all to often that players who drop down the divisions don't actually find their feet again; for example Roger Johnson, who wasn't even able to get in the Charlton team last season after falling out of favour at Wolves a few years ago.

Newcastle, who were also relegated, have been very active in the transfer market, casting away the players that failed them last season and bringing in fresh, young talent who know how to perform at this level. Perhaps that's something that the Villa boss needs to implement in the remaining two and half weeks before the season kicks off.

Reading

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The Royals limped into 17th place last season, and were surprisingly only 12 points clear of the drop zone. They looked poor at times, and that ultimately cost Brian McDermott his job after a little over five months in charge.

The new manager Jaap Stam has brought in some great talent from the continent; Anssi Jaakkola of Ajax, Danzell Gravenberch of FC Dordrecht, Joey van den Berg of Heerenveen, Roy Beerens of Hertha Berlin and Joseph Mendes of Le Havre.

On top of this, they've signed John Swift from Chelsea, who had an excellent season on loan at Brentford last time around.

They do also have some good players from last season, including Oliver Norwood who shone for Northern Ireland at the Euros, but they lack a proven goalscorer.

The only one in their current squad that comes close is ex-Bournemouth striker Yann Kermorgant, who scored 15 times in the season that the Cherries won this division.

That is undoubtedly going to need working on, and there are lot of variables amongst this squad.

Boss Jaap Stam has no experience as a manger, and most of these new signings have never played before in England, which is a different kettle of fish compared with the clubs that they've arrived from.

I highly doubt they'll be relegation candidates, but after getting to the quarter finals of the FA Cup last season and the semis the year before, shouldn't this club, who played in the Premier League as recently as 2013 and holds the record for the most points scored in a single Championship season, be aiming for much, much higher?

Championship fans, who do you think will underachieve? Are there any clubs that you are fearing for? Let us know, in your opinion, the three clubs that you think will underachieve the most via the comments box below!