Coventry City seal Premier League promotion: Frank Lampard makes surprise revelation after Blackburn Rovers draw

Frank Lampard has revealed that Coventry City were not planning for automatic promotion to the Premier League at the start of the season.

On Friday night, the Englishman and his Sky Blues squad confirmed that the Midlands outfit would be ending a 25-year absence from the top flight with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers.

While Coventry still have work to do in order to finish the campaign as Championship winners, they are guaranteed a top-two spot in the standings with three matches remaining.

Bobby Thomas' late header earned a share of the spoils at Ewood Park, sparking pandemonium among the 7,500 travelling supporters behind that goal.

A MASSIVE goal for Coventry that puts them within touching distance of the Premier League! ? pic.twitter.com/qEbWowrkrp

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) April 17, 2026

For Lampard, it is the highlight of a managerial career after experiencing constant doubts over his ability and credentials, despite a top-four Premier League finish with Chelsea and a successful relegation fight with Everton.

Speaking to Sky Sports after Friday's game, the legendary midfielder heaped praise on his players for exceeding the club's expectations prior to 2025-26.

Lampard admits surprise over automatic promotion

Lampard said: "These boys went from 17th to fifth last year, and Sunderland beat us, and we were so unlucky in that semi, so the resilience to come back again and to be able to push again and do the consistent stuff.

"Automatic promotion wasn't in our plan. We sat down in the summer, we talked about how perfect can the season be, considering what we are and what we can do and everything and we were like, can we get in the playoffs? Can we get maybe third or fourth to play the home tie second, which we didn't do last year? Now these boys have done that and they've got up with three games to go.

"I felt a little bit, there's always a stress and a panic last year, we got into the play-offs in the last moment, at Everton we stayed up with two games to go, Chelsea got into the Champions League last game. Thank God I haven't got to do that this year.

"We want to go and win it, don't get me wrong, but it's such a good feeling that the lads have managed to get it over the line at this point."

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— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) April 17, 2026

How can Coventry City win Championship title?

Coventry are now in a position where only Ipswich Town - due to their two games in hand - can beat them to the Championship title.

If Ipswich win their final five matches, they can reach 90 points. Coventry are currently on 86 points with three games left.

Holding a +13 goal difference on Ipswich, Coventry realistically only need four points from encounters with Portsmouth, Wrexham and Watford.

If Ipswich do not beat Middlesbrough on Sunday, Coventry will be confirmed as Championship title winners with victory over Wrexham on Tuesday.