Reading manager Nigel Adkins has predicted that the race for promotion from the Championship this season will be wide open.

The Royals, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, have been named among the bookmakers' favourites to be promoted.

However, Adkins has said that there will be plenty of teams challenging at the top of the table.

"If you look at all the teams that are in the Championship now, they are all teams that have been in the Premier League before," he told the Reading Post.

"Most of them will think they have a chance of going back up and we're no different."

Adkins won promotion to the Premier League with Southampton in 2012.