Results over the past seven days should show precisely how competitive and surprising the Championship ought to be – West Ham being walloped 5-1 at Ipswich was probably the most surprising result of the season. The leaders looked as if they’d got back into the game just before half time, but Lee Martin’s penalty in first half injury time more or less killed off the game.

Perhaps a bigger surprise came the following day when Leeds sacked Simon Grayson after their 4-1 home defeat by Birmingham City. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, promoted teams often rely on momentum and euphoria to sustain them through their first season and problems can often arise when the momentum becomes inertia. A lot of people – myself included – thought Leeds could kick on this season and mount a serious promotion challenge, but that’s not been the case and it’s easy to see why: their home form has declined since last year. Their current defensive record at Elland Road is worse than four of the current bottom six teams and only Peterborough have kept fewer home clean sheets.

Despite the surprises, nothing really changed. The top three are the same, although they can’t be caught this weekend. It’s not entirely clear who will be top this evening, but we’ll come to that in a minute. At the bottom there’s now a five point gap between Millwall and Doncaster and that could be significant – since February 2005 at least two of the three teams in the relegation zone have been relegated, although last season was the first time since 2005/06 that all three clubs at the bottom of the table at the beginning of February went down.

There are no less than three televised Championship games this weekend and so I make no apologies for focusing on them, especially as one is game of the week. The best way to preview these is to start at the beginning…at the Boleyn Ground at lunchtime where Millwall make the short trip across the Thames to play West Ham (Sky Sports 2, 12:30pm). The Lions have never beaten West Ham away from home and although they won at Barnsley (thanks to a hat trick from Darius Henderson) a couple of weeks ago they’ve not won consecutive away league games since the spring. As for West Ham, I can imagine Sam Allardyce will want to put Tuesday’s defeat behind his side as quickly as possible, especially as there’s a real prospect that the Hammers could end the day with a five point lead.

West Ham’s chances of extending their lead at the top also depends on the result of Birmingham v Southampton (SS2, 5:20pm) which is not only game of the week but better entertainment than what’s on BBC1 at the same time. Only five points separate the teams in second and fourth place at the moment and with Birmingham having moved into the play off spots after winning at Leeds, this evening’s game is an opportunity to for them to establish themselves as genuine promotion candidates. The Blues have won the last five games between them at St Andrews and Chris Houghton’s side still haven’t been beaten at home this season. I’d be surprised if Southampton came away with a win, but my recent predictions haven’t exactly been flawless.

This weekend’s programme finishes literally and metaphorically with a derby game – Nottingham Forest make the short trip to Pride Park (BBC1) where they won last season but haven’t managed consecutive away victories against Derby for over twenty years. The Rams have won their last four home games with teenage striker Callum Ball scoring three goals in those games – he’s definitely one to keep an eye on. It appears that Forest have worked out how to score goals again, but meetings between the clubs in Derbyshire are usually tight games: one team has failed to score in seven of the last ten.

The transfer window ‘slammed shut’ during the week and most of the last minute moves involved West Ham, who signed Ricardo Vaz Te from Barnsley, Nicky Maynard from Bristol City and Ravel Morrison from Manchester United. Probably the most interesting move was Marvin Sordell moving from Watford to Bolton – the 20 year old striker made his debut for the England U21 side last September and presumably Owen Coyle thinks he’s ready to be a success at the next level.

After having made a rash prediction a fortnight ago, I’ve obviously temporarily jinxed both Southampton and West Ham. Having taken the lead against Blackpool at St. Mary’s, the Saints only managed to salvage their unbeaten run thanks to an injury time equaliser by Rickie Lambert after the visitors had taken the lead thanks to a howler by Southampton’s Polish keeper Bartosz Bialkowski.

West Ham didn’t just lose at Reading, they imploded. You have to wonder if Big Sam wound his players up a little too tightly: Joey O’Brien can’t really complain about his two yellow cards for wild tackles, but although there was an element of taunting in Jimmy Kebe’s behaviour towards the end of the game, Jack Collison’s rush of blood was unpardonable and Neil Swarbrick was right to show the Welsh international a straight red card.

Hull won more comfortably at Coventry than the scoreline suggested and are in a good position going into Christmas programme. Despite the amazing comeback by Ipswich in the tea time game at Oakwell, the benefit of hindsight suggests that something spectacular might have been on the cards: prior to the game, there’d only been two other matches in the Championship this season that had featured eight goals: there are no prizes for guessing which teams were involved in a 5-3 defeat at Cardiff and a 7-1 drubbing at Peterborough.

This weekend is the penultimate Saturday programme for 2011 but with each club playing three games being played between Boxing Day and the 3^rd round of the FA Cup, you often hear pundits make the assumption that results over the festive season have a disproportionate impact of the success or failure of a club over the entire season. For example, this time year the three clubs that were eventually promoted were in the top six, while at the bottom half the clubs in the bottom six were eventually relegated. It was a similar story in 2009/10.

It might be more realistic to argue that results over the Christmas period give a long term indication of which direction a club could be heading. Last Christmas Coventry were in the last playoff place: after losing at Cardiff the Sky Blues only won one of their next sixteen games and have been in decline ever since. On the other hand, Middlesbrough were in the bottom six last Christmas but a 3-1 win at Preston was the start of a five game unbeaten run that effectively kick started their season.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, Tony Mowbray’s finest 90 minutes in charge of Middlesbrough was their first win in Cardiff since October 1970. The end of season victory was as important for Boro as it was damaging for Cardiff: Mowbray’s side have shown that their form at the end of last season wasn’t a fluke. On the other hand, Cardiff have been rebuilt by Malky McKay – only two of the side that collapsed against Middlesbrough back in May played against Millwall last weekend – and are actually performing at a slightly better level than they were last season. There’s a clear incentive for both sides to go for the win this weekend as there’s a mathematical possibility that if this game produces a winner and West Ham fail to beat Barnsley, then either Cardiff or Boro could go second.

The big game at the wrong end of the table features two clubs that currently have a lot in common. Nottingham Forest are learning the same lesson as Bristol City did a year ago: when you have three managers in a calendar year, a collapse in home form and forget how to score goals it’s hard to be successful in the Championship. Although Messers McInnes and Cotterill were taken on to reverse the decline in South Bristol and the east bank of the Trent, it’s increasingly looking as if Steve Cotterill may have the harder job. The Forest boss could benefit from history this weekend though as Bristol City’s record against Forest at Ashton Gate is dire: the Robins haven’t beaten Forest in the league since December 1974 despite having had ten opportunities to do so. Four of the last six games between the sides in South Bristol have ended in draws – a result that neither side needs right now.

There are two televised games this weekend: if you don’t mind interrupting your Sunday lunch, the South Coast derby between Portsmouth and Southampton should be worth watching on (BBC2, 1:00pm) especially as it’s only the fourth league meeting at Fratton Park since Southampton won the FA Cup in 1976 and the third meeting in all competitions this century. Pompey’s home form is as good as any of the promotion contenders while it’s worth remembering that Southampton haven’t kept a clean sheet on the road since August and lost their last two away games to sides in the bottom six.

On Monday night The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff is on BBC2, which might have been a better name for Crystal Palace v Birmingham City (Sky Sports 7:45pm), which is the last game in the Championship before Christmas. Neither club has been in a particularly good run of form recently – despite knocking Manchester United out of the Carling Cup Palace haven’t won at Selhurst Park or scored more than one goal in a league game since mid October, while Birmingham have lost four of their last five games and have failed to score in three of those.

All being well I’ll be back before the end of next week with an overview of the games over the holiday period, but I’ll wish you all a Happy Christmas now just in case I get sidetracked by repeats of the Morecambe & Wise Show combined too many mince pies and glasses of port…

Seven clubs will be playing Premier League sides with half of them having home ties, although it seems odd writing about Burnley’s trip to Norwich as it was only last season that this would have been a league game. Barnley’s game against Swansea at Oakwell could be the best chance of an ‘upset’ even though once again this was league fixture in 2010/11. At the other end of the telescope, Portsmouth have to visit Chelsea in a repeat of the 2010 final but given Pompey’s poor away form I’d be surprised if that tie finished with a 1-0 scoreline this time round.

The Championship is guaranteed at least four clubs in the fourth round: Nottingham Forest play Leicester City, Southampton travel to Coventry, Derby entertain Crystal Palace and Hull take on Ipswich at the KC Stadium. That leaves nine clubs playing opposition below the Championship, although at the moment only Brighton (who will be playing Wrexham in the first FA Cup tie at the Amex Stadium) are the only club playing opposition outside the football league. If Fleetwood Town beat Yeovil in next Tuesday’s replay then Blackpool will have to make the seven mile trip north to visit the Trawlermen.

The FA Cup ties don’t take place until next month and so it’s back to league action – and there were some real coupon busters last weekend. Billy Sharp scored the only goal of the game as Doncaster Rovers beat Southampton and Burnley came from behind to beat West Ham at Upton Park for the first time since 1973. Those results meant that the goal that Kenny Miller scored for Cardiff against Birmingham on Sunday lunchtime was very significant: the Bluebirds could overtake West Ham this weekend but more of that later. Middlesbrough needed some questionable referring at Ashton Gate to record their sixth win away from home this season, while Hull’s two wins in the space of a week means they’re back in the top six.

At the bottom of the table, Coventry’s defeat at Portsmouth and Doncaster’s surprise win means that Sky Blues fans could be facing a very miserable Christmas as their team is now rock bottom. Nottingham Forest  join them in the bottom three – since Steve Cotterill took over in mid October, Forest have lost five of their nine league games and have failed to score in their last three.

There are two televised games this weekend: the first is between Southampton v Blackpool (Sky Sports 2, 12:45pm) both of whom were outside the Championship last season but have made good starts in 2011/12. Although the Tangerines won the last time these two met in the league, it’s not been a happy hunting ground for them over the years and considering Saints impressive home record Ian Holloway’s side could struggle at St. Mary’s.

Although there’s no outstanding candidate for game of the week, there are a couple of 3:00pm kick offs that could be worth keeping an eye on as they involve teams at either end of the table. If Cardiff City win at the New Den and West Ham lose at Reading, the Bluebirds will move into the second automatic promotion spot – although it’s a big if as the Welsh club haven’t won at Millwall since September 1982 and the last four league games between the sides in South London have ended all square.

Hull travel to the Ricoh Arena having lost two of their last three away games but there are some signs that caretaker manager Nicky Barmby has removed the ‘defence first’ mentality that characterised the Tigers under Nigel Pearson. To make matters even worse for the hosts, they’re still far too reliant on Lukas Jutkiewicz for goals: rumours are beginning to circulate that Coventry’s leading scorer could be on the way to Southampton during the transfer window – a move that would ensure the short term financial future of the club but would appear to cast doubts over their future as a Championship team.

The teatime game is Barnsley v Ipswich (Sky Sports 2, 5:20pm) – under the management of former Rochdale boss Keith Hill the Tykes have quietly crept up the table and are now just three points off the playoff positions. There are no household names in the Barnsley side, but when you’ve got a promising young goalscoring defender like Jacob Butterfield playing behind Craig Davies and Ricardo Vaz Te then you probably don’t need them. I wasn’t very complimentary about the Tractor Boys last week and despite taking the lead against Watford on Saturday thanks to Keith Andrews, two goals in four minutes meant a seventh consecutive defeat for Paul Jewel’s side, who are now only outside the bottom three on goal difference.

The winners of manager of the month and player of the month awards for November were announced on Friday afternoon and although I don’t normally mention them, under the circumstances I think it’s worth highlighting that Billy Sharp of Doncaster Rovers won the award for player of the month.  In case anyone’s forgotten Sharp’s story, you can read it here: he deserves an award – however inconsequential – after the terrible few weeks he’s been through.

If you believe the bookies then only Cardiff City of our two remaining representatives have much chance of reaching the semi finals. The last time the Bluebirds met Blackburn Rovers in South Wales was in the FA Cup at Ninian Park in January 2005; the game finished 1-1 and Rovers won the replay at Ewood Park. However, poor form in the Premier League, fan unrest surrounding the manager and the board and the prospect of appearing in these posts next season mean that if Cardiff win it could be the last straw at Blackburn.

At the weekend, Bristol City’s victory over Southampton showed exactly how competitive and surprising the football league is, both Burnley and Reading came from behind to win away from home and Leeds managed to go up the table despite losing to Barnsley at Elland Road.

Overall, the gaps at the top and bottom have closed up: West Ham could overtake Southampton if results go the right way tonight, while the bottom half of the table could be unrecognisable by Sunday morning.

Unfortunately, we also had plastic bottles thrown on to the pitch at Selhurst Park during the South London derby and the entire weekend was overshadowed by Gary Speed’s untimely death. Speed began his short managerial career in the Championship with Sheffield United last season, but was at Bramhall Lane for less than two months before being appointed as Wales manager.

Game of the evening in the league is Middlesbrough against West Ham at the Riverside, but a quick look at the form book is inconclusive other than suggesting that a stalemate is highly likely – even though the Hammers have only won one of their last ten trips to Teeside.

Once again though, it’s the bottom of the table where the situation is most fluid. Coventry and Doncaster both lost on Saturday and are now six points behind Bristol City and seven points from safety: both clubs have one fewer point than Preston did at this stage last season and we all know how that turned out.

Doncaster travel to Millwall in their first away game against a team in the current bottom six: the Lions have already beaten both Coventry and Nottingham Forest at the New Den this season and even though they’re currently in the middle of the roughest patch of form since they were promoted, Kenny Jackett’s side don’t look as if they’ll lose this one.

The most intriguing game at the wrong end of the table is Bristol City’s trip to Watford: the Robins have won three of their last four trips to Vicarage Road and could move out of the bottom three with a win. Watford’s precarious position is based on their away form and although they’ve won three on the bounce at home and seem to have tightened up defensively in recent games, it’s probably the worst time for them to run into tonight’s opponents.

Tomorrow night Crystal Palace will be attempting the seemingly impossible at Old Trafford in the Carling Cup: they’ve not beaten Manchester United since December 1989, they haven’t scored an away goal since the end of last month and haven’t scored a goal in any competition since Jermain Easter’s penalty against Southampton in the Carling Cup.

I’ll be back later in the week with a roundup of the midweek action, which starts on Friday night when Palace – who’ll probably be exhausted by then – play Derby.

At the start of the month I mentioned that Leicester City seem to be in the habit of making ‘vanity’ appointments with managerial appointments that seemed to be based increasing the perception of the Foxes as a big club rather than on the actual record of the appointee. So the reappointment of Nigel Pearson this week is a weird one: presumably Pearson thought he had a chance of getting Hull City back to the Premier Division when he left the King Power Stadium in the summer of 2010, but the grass at the KC Stadium can’t have been as green as he thought.

Judging on this season’s form, it’s a sideways move for Pearson. Leicester are two points behind Hull but neither side look currently capable of challenging for automatic promotion: the Tigers don’t score enough goals while the Foxes concede too many.

Pearson’s move to Leicester led to Nicky Barmby being appointed caretaker manager at Hull, but the other permanent appointment that was made recently shows more imagination. Portsmouth appointed former Preston and West Brom midfielder Michael Appleton as manager: to say that Appleton is driven is an understatement – having been forced to retire due to a botched operation on a knee injury at the age of 27, he’s spent most of the last decade building a coaching career and was at WBA at the same time as Bristol City manager Derek McInnes.

Pearson, Barmby and Appleton all have different challenges this weekend: on Saturday Hull travel to Derby, Watford play Portsmouth at Vicarage Road and Leicester entertain Crystal Palace on Sunday.

However, I’m looking at other games this weekend to provide the talking points. Leeds visit Burnley on Saturday lunchtime (BBC2, 12:45pm) having only lost twice in their last ten games at Turf Moor while the Clarets have lost both of their last two games by 3-1; before the season began I wondered about Eddie Howe would do over the course of a full season and if Burnley lose again he may find himself under a great deal of pressure.

The game of the week is Middlesbrough v Blackpool – although this is only the third time they’ve met in the league since 1987, this looks like a clash that could tell us a lot about the prospects of these sides over the next six months. Boro haven’t entertained any of the current top six teams at the Riverside, while Blackpool earned a point at Crystal Palace but were comprehensively beaten at West Ham last month. Even with Marvin Emnes and Kevin Phillips on the pitch this looks as if it could be a low scoring game with a point being the best the Tangerines can hope for.

There are a couple of other games that will have an impact at both ends of the table: it’s not hard to see why West Ham are favourites at Coventry as the Hammers have only lost once away from home this season while The Sky Blues have only won five of their last 20 Championship games at the Ricoh Arena. The Hammers have only conceded a ridiculous four goals away from home this season, so if they can shut down Lukas Jutkiewicz (who has scored six of Coventry’s 13 league goals this season) then the job’s half done.

Game of the day in South Yorkshire is Barnsley v Doncaster, which is a game that the visitors have had the upper hand in recently: Rovers have won three of the five league meetings at Oakwell this century, although having won at Ipswich a few weeks ago wasn’t a good sign as Donny have lost both of their subsequent away games following an away win.

The only other televised game this weekend is Millwall v Bristol City (Sky Sports 1, 1:15pm), which is an interesting choice of appetiser for Chelsea v Liverpool. The hosts are still formidable at home (only three defeats in their last twenty Championship games at The New Den) and Darius Henderson has taken over from Steve Morison as leading goalscorer but the Robins have clearly benefitted from a change in manager and are no longer the pushovers they were earlier in the season.

There are a couple of games next Tuesday night, but I’ll take a look at them at the beginning of next week as well as rounding up this weekend’s action.

I scribbled a few thoughts into my notebook but a couple seemed fairly pertinent: since Nigel Pearson left Leicester in summer 2010, it’s best to describe both Sven and his predecessor (Paolo Sousa) as ‘vanity’ appointments. Despite having a reputation that appears to be built on sand, Sousa hasn’t been at any club long enough to make any kind of a positive impression as a manager and Eriksson hasn’t won anything with a club since the double with Lazio in 1999/2000.

Perhaps they both interviewed well, but my second thought was that Leicester City have a great deal in common with  a lot of other teams in the Championship. The Foxes have spent more seasons in the second tier of English football than they have at any other level and haven’t played in the Premier League for eight seasons. Leicester were this season’s ‘trendy’ pick to win the Championship and are thought of as a ‘big’ club in the Championship, even though these days that largely means having foreign owners, a flexible policy over stadium naming rights and being one of the clubs that Eriksson used to manage. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but Manchester City are currently top of the Premier League not half way down the Championship.

I’ve got nothing against ambition, but it has to be tempered with a dose of reality now and again. It’s all very well having superb facilities and no immediate local rivals to compete against, but a quick glance at Leicester’s honours list indicates that they’re very much a second tier club that has historically performed better with managers from the UK and Ireland.

Upon returning from France there was no time write a post last weekend, so it’s double helpings this week.

Unusually for a Tuesday night, there are three games that will have a direct impact on both ends of the table so we’ll start with Hull’s trip to Barnsley: the Tykes – who lost at home to Bristol City last weekend – have a dreadful record against the Tigers at Oakwell (only two wins in the last ten meetings) while Nigel Pearson’s side have only lost two of their last 20 away games and are are one of the best away teams in the Championship despite their lack of goals on the road. Having picked up three single goal wins away from the KC Stadium this season, another one wouldn’t come as a massive surprise.

Despite their away record being as good as Hull’s, Middlesbrough have fallen off the pace a little recently – one win in the last month is hardly promotion form – but they face a Doncaster side that have only won three home league games in the last calendar year. There hasn’t been a draw between these two clubs in South Yorkshire since the first time they ever met in the league, a goalless draw almost a century ago

Despite having picked up a vital win in South Yorkshire at the weekend, bottom of the table Bristol City will be underdogs when they travel to West Ham for a league game for the first time since January 1993, but although the Hammers home record isn’t bad they’ve not won three consecutive games in the league for almost three years. The Robins last won back to back away games in the Championship last season but have only won one of their last five games in the capital and have only ever won once at Upton Park.

I’ll be back on Friday, possibly with news about an appointment at Fratton Park but with a review of the midweek action and a preview of the weekend’s games.

Oh yes – one club playing in the Europa League, two clubs without managers (although an official announcement from Nottingham Forest is expected over the weekend), three clubs in the top six that weren’t in the Championship this time last year and four clubs left in the Carling Cup with two guaranteed quarter final places.

There are some great looking games this weekend – starting with a game between two of the three teams from Yorkshire left in the top half of the football league when Leeds travel to Doncaster (SS1 19:45). Leeds won at the Keepmoat in the Carling Cup earlier this season but it’s not exactly been a happy hunting ground for United in the league over the years: they’ve managed only two wins at Doncaster (the last in April 1956) and their more recent away form is less than convincing – Leeds have won two of their last ten road trips.

There’s only been one game between any of the sides that have been in the top six this season, but that’s going to change on Saturday when there are a pair of them. There are some interesting comparisons between the two contenders for game of the week:  Hull’s trip to Brighton (kick off at 5:30pm) should be interesting – the Tigers haven’t won at Brighton since August 1965 and have failed to score in eight of their last ten trips to Sussex.

Southampton’s record at Derby County is almost as bad. The Saints have only won twice in their last 20 league outings at either the Baseball Ground or Pride Park and although Nigel Adkins’ side got off to a great start, there are signs their away form is beginning to fall away. Since winning 5-2 in Ipswich in mid August they’ve only picked up one point from the nine available on their travels.

Middlesbrough are ideally placed to take advantage of any slip up by the current leaders, but although Boro are the only undefeated team left in the Championship their recent record at the Riverside is puzzling. They’ve drawn four of their five games in front of their own fans this season and failed to score at all at home in the league in September – Marvin Emnes’ goal against Coventry on August Bank Holiday Weekend was the last time Boro hit the net at the Riverside! The hosts could exploit Millwall’s inability to score away from home – the Lions have scored one goal in their last four away trips – and although the visitors won the corresponding game last season, they’ve never had consecutive successes on Teeside.Co

There’s a six pointer at the other end of the table when Nottingham Forest travel to the Ricoh Arena but unlike the games at Brighton, Derby and Middlesbrough, this is a fixture that the away team has dominated over the years. If the rumours flying around on Friday lunchtime are to be believed – Steve Cotterill leaving Portsmouth to take over at the City Ground – then it may be a good time for Forest’s currentt squad to extend that run.

There are two other televised games this weekend: Barnsley’s trip to Portsmouth is live on Sky Sports 2 at 5:20pm on Saturday evening and Birmingham entertain Leicester City on BBC1 on Sunday lunchtime – then there’s a full midweek programme, the highlight of which is probably Southampton v West Ham on Tuesday night.

This weekend sees the last action in the Championship for a couple of weeks due to the international break: after most clubs played two league games in the past seven days, there are some signs that this season’s competition might be much tighter than 2010/11.

At the top, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Derby are all level on points: the latter pair were undefeated over the course of the last week although Boro seem to have gone into ’safety first’ mode at the Riverside with goalless draws against Ipswich & Leicester. Possibly the most significant result of the season so far came at the Cardiff City Stadium on Wednesday night, when the hosts beat Southampton 2-1 in the first game between the current top six in 2011/12: veteran Scottish striker Kenny Miller scored both goals for the Bluebirds.

With only three points separating the current crop of Premier League hopefuls, it’s a similar story at bottom of the table for the clubs hoping to avoid League 1 next August. Only a win separates Doncaster from Birmingham, although to be fair to the Blues they have two games in hand. The managerial change at the Keepmoat Stadium seems to have done the trick as Donny were one of six clubs that picked up four points from a possible six in the last seven days; exactly how much they’ve improved should be indicated when they travel to Peterborough on Saturday. Burnley also did well last week: the Clarets battered Nottingham Forest 5-1 on Tuesday night, a win that put Forest manager Steve McClaren under even more pressure.

There’s little doubt about the team of the week. That accolade must surely go to Reading, who were two goals down after an hour at Ashton Gate on Tuesday night but managed to win the game with an injury time goal from French striker Mathieu Manset. The result propelled the Royals into mid table but left Bristol City without a home win this season: Robins’ manager Keith Millen isn’t as much of a household name as Steve McClaren, but the bookies have them as clear favourites to be the next managers to join Sean O’Driscoll at the allotments.

There are a couple of interesting games on Saturday: Middlesbrough defend their 100% away record at Reading while Watford will be trying to make a dent in Southampton’s perfect record at St. Mary’s – the Hornets have won the last three league games there by an aggregate of 9-1!

Leicester and Derby battle it out on Sky Sports 2 in the tea time kick off (5:20pm ) but the last time the Rams were successful at Leicester was in a Premier League game at Filbert Street almost ten years ago, when Georgi Kinkladze was amongst the scorers in a 3-0 win. Nigel Clough’s side seems to have turned something of a corner this season and it’s not hard to see why: of the starting eleven against Barnsley on Tuesday only John Brayford and Jamie Ward played against Reading in the final game of last season.

However, game of the week is the Sunday afternoon match between Nottingham Forest v Birmingham City. The mildest way of describing how these teams have performed so far is that they’ve been inconsistent: the Blues are in a weird position for all kinds of reasons (new manager following relegation, the novelty of a Europa League campaign and multiple issues with their chairman) and are probably at their best at home. Forest are normally slow starters but have regressed to the point where Steve McClaren described his team as ‘rubbish’ after the defeat at Burnley during the week. The bad news for Birmingham is that they’ve only won one of their last ten trips to the City Ground, they’re struggling away from home and even though they came from behind to beat Maribor in Thursday’s Europa League game they’ve lost the last two away games immediately after travelling back from their European adventures.

Whether or not Forest can capitalise upon that record is another matter altogether.

Still, it’s a morale boosting victory for Rovers: they’re one win away from escaping the bottom three and might fancy their chances at home to Hull tonight – the Tigers have failed to win any of their last five league trips to Doncaster.

The weekend got off to a cracking start when Brighton drew 3-3 with Leeds; the visitors scored twice within twenty five minutes but two goals from Craig Mackail-Smith and an Ashley Barnes penaltygave the Seagulls the leadwith less than ten minutes left. However, Ross MacCormick’s second goal of the game and eighth of the season meant the points were shared.

If anyone was expecting Friday night’s game to the curtain raiser on a goal packed weekend, they would have been disappointed as there were only fifteen goals in nine games and three of those came in Derby’s win over Millwall. However, two of them were significant: Jacob Butterfield’s strike for Barnsley was the first goal Birmingham City had conceded in the league at St Andrews this season and Brett Pitman’s header for Bristol City against Hull was the first goal the Robins had scored at Ashton Gate in all competitions since May.

Burnley v Southampton finished all square: the Clarets took the lead through Charlie Austin but French midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin equalised for Southampton ten minutes before full time and his goal meant that the Saints remain top of the table going into tonight’s games.

The Carling Cup draw on Saturday could have been worse: Championship clubs are guaranteed two quarter final places but we’ll be covering those games nearer the time.

There’s almost a full slate of games tonight and on Wednesday – Birmingham are excused due to their Europa League group game with Maribor in Slovenia on Thursday evening – and apart from Crystal Palace’s first visit to Brighton for almost six years there are a couple of intriguing games.

The bottom six clash between Millwall and Watford at Vicarage Road is something of a warning to clubs looking to sell strikers to the Premier League: having sold Steve Morison and Danny Graham respectively, the Lions and the Hornets are struggling to find the back of the net. Millwall have failed to score in their last three away games, while Watford have achieved that feat in three of their four home games this season. This is also a low scoring game traditionally – only two of the last ten league meetings between these two in Hertfordshire have featured more than 2.5 goals.

On Wednesday night, it’s the only midweek game this week between teams in the top six when Southampton travel to Cardiff. This is a potential pitfall for the Saints: they’ve not won in the Welsh capital since Christmas 1965, the Bluebirds have beaten them in their last six meetings and this is the first time that Nigel Adkins’ side has played any of the other teams in the top six.

We’ll be back on Friday with a review of the midweek games and a look at Saturday’s matches, but if you’re going to a game tonight rather than watching the Champions League then you should be proud of yourself!

At the other end of the table, although Doncaster Rovers picked up their first point of the season although they had to come from behind at home to Bristol City to do so.

 Biggest thumping of the week came at the City Ground, where West Ham beat Nottingham Forest 4-1. Although both sides had chances early on, the game was effectively over after half an hour as the Hammers established a three goal lead that Forest never really looked like overcoming.

Whether it was the result in particular, Forest’s poor start to the season at home (they’ve not won a home game in the league since the end of April) or their complete lack of activity in the transfer market, on Friday afternoon there were all sorts of rumours circulating about Steve McClaren’s future at the club. Forest weren’t exactly quick out of the blocks at the start of last season but they still reached the playoffs: how much of this particular crisis has been inspired by Derby’s transformation into a decent team is open to debate, but it can’t have helped matters.

Not surprisingly, the most interesting moves made by Championship clubs before the transfer window closed were those that involved players either moving to or from clubs in the Premier League. Cameron Jerome moved from Birmingham to Stoke; Scott Parker’s eventual departure from West Ham was inevitable but Sam Allardyce brought in David Bentley on loan from Spurs, the club Parker joined. Having apparently given up any hope of signing Bristol City’s Nicky Maynard, Leicester bought Jermaine Beckford from Everton.

However, the deal that might have the most impact this season involved Reading landing Adam Le Fondre from Rotherham. The Stockport born striker –who is still only 24 – scored 110 goals in 257 appearances for Stockport, Rochdale and Rotherham and if he can maintain that rate in the Championship then the Royals will have bought themselves a bargain.

So what – if anything – can we learn after five games? With just over 10% of the season gone it’s almost compulsory to make sweeping generalisations, particularly as this time last year Swansea and Scunthorpe were level on points. However, it already looks as if the momentum that propelled Brighton and Southampton to automatic promotion hasn’t stopped yet, Birmingham City’s promotion campaign could be derailed by their participation in the group stages of the Europa League and if West Ham are serious about being promoted they need to stop conceding late goals at home.

Looking at the ‘established’ Championship clubs, the early season form of both Derby and Crystal Palace is surprising but not entirely unexpected and emphasises – once again – that managerial consistency is extremely valuable at this level. Whether either of those clubs can maintain their current performance is something we’ll find out soon, as I suspect Middlesbrough may be the best long term promotion prospect from the ‘surprise’ teams so far.

At the other end of the ‘surprise’ scale I’ve already mentioned Nottingham Forest; Reading’s poor start can be excused due to a playoff hangover and some appalling luck (the missed penalties against Barnsley in particular) but Leeds appear to be victims of a combination of ‘second season’ syndrome exacerbated by disappointment at not reaching the playoffs in May. I’d expect a gradual improvement from all three of those teams before Christmas: however, if I was a fan of either Coventry or Doncaster I’d be slightly worried, although on the positive side only one of the clubs in the bottom three at this stage last season was ultimately relegated.