After a long summer where fans were starved of competitive footballing action, the Championship is back underway.

Two games has been played and 44 are left with many clubs vying for promotion to the Premier League and the lucrative financial deal which comes with it.

With all left to play for, bookmakers are taking bets on the Championship title winner and they are also giving odds on who will get relegated.

Middlesbrough, who bounced back with a victory in their second game after losing their opening game of the season, have been widely backed by the bookmakers to win the Sky Bet Championship title.

Boro remain the bookies' favourites with Bet365, Sky Bet, Bet Victor, Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill and others, with betting free bonuses for each.

This could be down to the big money that they have been splashing out this summer; the recently relegated side have already spent over £30m on transfers this summer.

They are backed at 6/1 by Bet Victor and Bet365 while Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill and Sky Bet are taking bets at 13/2.

Paddy Power also have Boro at 6/1 but they are joint favourites with Aston Villa, who are at the same price.

Although they are largely considered second favourite (or joint second favourite), Aston Villa have been backed as the favourites for the title by Betfair (11/2) and Winner (6/1).

Also in the reckoning towards the top are Wolves, Fulham, Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich.

Wolves are priced at 7/1 with William Hill, Betfred and Paddy Power, ranking them as either joint second or third favourites for the title after spending big on the likes of Ruben Neves.

If you are betting with Sky Bet (15/2) or William Hill and Betfred (7/1), Fulham will be considered joint second favourites at the same price as Aston Villa and Wolves.

A more ambitious punt, according to the bookies, would be Sheffield Wednesday, who are winless after two matches.

The Owls are priced at 14/1 with Bet365 while Sky Bet, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral are all giving odds of 11/1.

Norwich are also 11/1 with William Hill while Paddy Power are offering 14/1 on the Canaries winning the league.

This could be worth a gamble as Norwich City's new look squad will be aiming for success, but they too are winless as yet.

Other outside bets that might be worth looking at include Leeds United (priced at 16/1 with Coral, Ladbrokes, Bet Victor and Betfred) and Reading and Sunderland (who are both 33/1 to win the league with Bet365).

If you have a gut feeling about Jaap Stam's Reading, you can get odds of 40/1 with Bet Victor - remarkable considering their success last season.

As for the relegation candidates, the bookies have backed 3 "B" teams for the drop.

The bookmakers believe that Barnsley, Burton and Bolton will struggle to survive.

After losing Marc Roberts, Josh Scowen and Marley Watkins, Barnsley have been tipped for relegation: 5/4 with Bet365 and Bet Victor, 11/10 with William Hill and 5/6 with Paddy Power, Ladbrokes and Coral!

Burton Albion's outlook doesn't look much better and I imagine that bookies would've taken a flurry of bets on the Brewers to go down after Liam Boyce was ruled out with a long-term injury.

With Bet365, Burton and Bolton are both priced at 6/4 to go down.

The other teams in danger of the drop, according to the bookies, are Millwall, Ipswich, QPR, Birmingham, Preston and Nottingham Forest.

Millwall are 2/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral while the same duo have priced Ipswich at 10/3, QPR at 4/1, Preston at 5/1 and Birmingham at 6/1.

There are some surprising candidates down there too: Reading are just 7/1 with Ladbrokes, Coral and Bet Victor while recently relegated Sunderland are 8/1 with Paddy Power.

Bristol City, who narrowly avoided relegation last year, are 12/1 to go down with Paddy Power, which is perhaps worth a punt.

50/1 is the maximum price you will find: Bet Victor installs Derby County, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Aston Villa and Fulham all at that price as the least favourites for the drop.