I think it’s fair to say that both Blackpool and Leicester sent fairly clear messages to the rest of the Sky Bet Championship last weekend. Although The Tangerines are five points away from second place, Paul Ince’s side are undefeated in the three games they’ve played against the other promotion contenders even though they left it very late to beat Nottingham Forest, who played for an hour with ten men after Djamel Abdoun was sent off.
Leicester banished the memory of their sensational playoff defeat at Watford at the end of last season with their first win at Vicarage Road for just over five years. It probably wasn’t going to be Watford’s day when Chris Wood scored after being hit in the face by Manuel Alumunia’s clearance after ten minutes.
Talking of statements, Sheffield Wednesday finally won in front of their own fans, although ‘win’ doesn’t really sum up the emphatic nature of their victory over Reading: a 5-1 lead with half an hour left to play was evidence of that.
This week QPR and Leicester could go top if Burnley slip up, but Rangers face Reading at the Majewski Stadium in the first game of the weekend (12:15pm Sky Sports 1) – the West Londoners have only won there once since the stadium opened in August 1998 and haven’t won on their travels this season since they beat Yeovil at the end of September. Watford and Leeds could get back into the playoff places if they win at Middlesbrough and Charlton respectively.
The bottom of the table is still congested with only six points separating Middlesbrough and Yeovil. The only game between the strugglers this weekend is at Oakwell, when Doncaster Rovers make the short trip along the A635. Amazingly, this will be the third Yorkshire derby in three consecutive games for Barnsley and their fourth this season – they’ve yet lose in any of them. However the Tykes home record against Rovers at home isn’t great: two wins in seven games since 2000.
Game of the week is Leicester against Nottingham Forest. If you know anyone who complains about the lack of decent British players in the Premier League, it might be worth pointing them in the direction of this match as both clubs have a decidedly ‘home grown’ feel to them. Although Copenhagen born Kaspar Schmeichel is Leicester’s only ever present this season, the four others who have featured in all of Leicester’s games in the Championship are British, as are all but two of City’s goalscorers – in case anyone forgot, Chris Wood is from New Zealand. It’s a similar story with Forest: Dublin born leading goalscorer Andy Reid is one of the five British or Irish players who have appeared in all of Forest’s games this season.
The game could be plain sailing for the Foxes. Leicester have not lost at home since April and only Burnley and Middlesbrough have scored more goals in their home games in the Championship this season. On the other hand, Forest haven’t won at Leicester in any competition since March 2005 and have failed to score in five of their last six visits, but given Leicester’s habit of winning games 2-1, at least one of those records could change this weekend.
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