Championship weekend preview: contenders, pretenders and strugglers
Derby County open the Championship weekend with a Friday match against Bolton Wanderers as the second tier has a clear run of fixtures while League One and League Two clubs take part in the FA Cup. We have picked out five things you may want to keep an eye out for on Saturday.
Based on the past six matches, Chris Davies' Birmingham City are first and Sheffield United fifth in the Championship form table. So far England's second tier has served up its usual helping of drama and chaos in equal measure while sacking season seems to be in full swing.
Birmingham are unbeaten at home this season and have moved up to third after a run of five wins from their past six games under Chris Davies. Knighthead Capital Management's early period as owners included sacking John Eustace when the club were sixth and appointing Wayne Rooney, who won only two of his 15 league games before being replaced by Gary Rowett as relegation loomed; a rebuild under Davies saw the club pay a League One record fee to sign Jay Stansfield, whose 19 goals helped deliver a record-breaking promotion and a subsequent 10th-place finish. A win over Swansea on Saturday (15:00 GMT) offers the chance to go top, and Davies said after Tuesday's 3-0 win over Millwall: "The league table is temporary at the moment and when I came in two-and-a-half years ago we'd just been relegated, so we've come a long way and we feel like we deserve to be where we are."
Swansea arrive after a 4-0 win over Blackburn last weekend that was sandwiched between a 5-0 defeat by QPR and Tuesday's 3-1 reverse at Portsmouth, results that have seen Vitor Matos' side fall out of the automatic promotion places. That sequence makes Saturday's trip to Birmingham a significant test of both teams' credentials.
West Ham replaced Nuno Espirito Santo with Scott Parker following boos and jeers after a home defeat by West Brom; Parker is back at the club he served as a player and made 129 appearances for during four years. The first 45 minutes of his tenure saw the Hammers 3-0 down at Cardiff before fighting back to draw 3-3, and Parker — who has won promotion with Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley — said: "I've been in this division three times and I've got out of this division three times. This is a tough division, there is absolutely no denying it. I will use every ounce of my experience, every ounce of my knowledge, to have an understanding of what we're going to need to bring consistency." Saturday's trip to Blackburn (15:00 GMT) pits them against a side that have lost two on the bounce but have a habit of producing a result just when you think they are on the slide.
Sheffield United sit ninth with four wins from their past six and are five points shy of the top two, having edged up into the play-off frame; Chris Wilder said after Tuesday's Sydie Peck-inspired win at Preston: "I'm not getting carried away, we needed to get to the first international break and work a few things out which we've done - I want to build something here and some stuff works and some doesn't so we're learning on the job." By contrast, Nathan Jones' Charlton have not won since the end of August and have lost four straight, making Saturday's meeting at The Valley (15:00 GMT) important for both clubs.
Preston have won just one league game this season and were second from bottom when Graham Alexander returned towards the end of September, three points short of the safety line; six games into his second spell they are now nine points adrift with a solitary draw. Alexander told BBC Radio Lancashire: "I wanted it to be a fresh start when I came in but they're carrying baggage of the past and I can understand that, and it's my job and the coaching staff to get them to put that down and see the rest of the season as an opportunity." Southampton have had two away hiccups but have taken seven points from their past nine on the road and travel to Deepdale (15:00 GMT).
James Morrison took charge at West Brom after the club worked through Ryan Mason and Eric Ramsay, was called upon to take the reins and was handed the role permanently in April after steering them clear of relegation. A five-game unbeaten run, including wins over Wrexham, Blackburn and West Ham, has pushed Albion into the top six ahead of Saturday's meeting with Millwall at The Hawthorns (15:00 GMT), while a lengthy injury list has prevented the Londoners from replicating last season's form which took them to the brink of automatic promotion before play-off heartbreak. "These two are seeking to be contenders for at least a top-eight finish and a result for either may show us who is the real deal and who might just be a pretender," the preview stated.
BBC Sport will have live text coverage of all the weekend's Championship action starting on Friday with Derby County v Bolton Wanderers (20:00 GMT). Saturday's schedule features several 15:00 GMT kick-offs across the division.
