Top Promoted Team Betting: QPR are the ones to back

Harry Redknapp's experience will be an asset for QPR in 2014/15

Play-off winners tend to adapt to the Premier League better than Championship table-toppers, and QPR are equipped to maintain that trend...

There is little correlation between emphatic Championship success and comfortable Premier League survival, as proven by six seasons passing since the promoted trio last finished in the same order upon arrival in the top tier.

If anything, the statistics say that Championship winners have the trickiest time hanging on among the elite for more than a year. The last three champions all ranked the lowest of the newcomers, with two suffering relegation (Cardiff and Reading) and the others clinging on in 17th (QPR).

Quite why this phenomenon exists is difficult to define. It might in part be down to the expectation on them to reach the haven of 40 points weighing heaviest, or that they find the transition from winning every week to frequently losing the toughest to adjust to.

Alternatively, it could be that the table-toppers are happiest with their lot and feel less inclined to overhaul their squad, resulting in them having less Premier League experience in both their squad and dugout than their fellow novices.

Premier League knowhow has definitely been decisive recently. Last term, runners-up Hull had Steve Bruce and play-off victors Crystal Palace had Ian Holloway then an even more established Tony Pulis, whereas title claimants Cardiff veered from Malky Mackay to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The rookie managers were the relegated ones.

There was a similar scenario in 2012/13, when Sam Allardyce trumped Brian McDermott and Nigel Adkins for miles on the clock and ultimately points on the board too, so QPR's Harry Redknapp card wields more gravitas than Leicester's Nigel Pearson or Burnley's Sean Dyche can muster.

The not-a-wheeler-dealer has hastily recruited Premier League savvy in England internationals Rio Ferdinand and Steven Caulker, whereas the most expensive recruits for the Foxes (Leonardo Ulloa) and Clarets (Lukas Jutkiewicz and Michael Kightly) are far less proven.

Factor in the number of Premier League veterans already in the Hoops squad (Robert Green, Richard Dunne, Joey Barton, Bobby Zamora, etc), their underachievement in 2013/14 (similar to West Ham, who improved after confirming promotion at Wembley in 2011/12) and the bigger budget at their disposal, and they appear by far the best bet to be top-performing newbies at 2.8415/8.

It would be a fourth successive triumph for the play-off winners, though if you disagree, you can back Leicester at 2.111/10 or Burnley at 5.49/2.