EFL week two: Relegated giants and ambitious upstarts
West Ham United and Leicester City are among the clubs preparing for week two of the English Football League as the season resumes this weekend, with a mix of fallen top-flight sides and rapidly ascending lower-league outfits in action. Clubs such as Lincoln City, Bromley and York City provide contrasting storylines after their promotions last season.
West Ham arrive in the Championship after relegation and have spent heavily, smashing the EFL transfer record by spending £22m on Celtic midfielder Arne Engels and taking Leeds striker Joel Piroe on loan, moves that increase expectation of an immediate return to the top flight. The Hammers' London Stadium will stage a 62,500 sell-out on Saturday (15:00 BST) for the first league meeting between West Ham and Charlton in 19 years. West Ham's recent history in the second tier includes the 2011-12 campaign when they had to come through the play-offs to secure promotion.
Lincoln City prepare to welcome Portsmouth on Saturday (12:30 BST) having won the League One title last season and returned to the second tier after a 66-year absence. The Imps' rise follows low points including a 4-0 home defeat by North Ferriby United in the FA Trophy in 2014 and two trips to non-league football since their last Championship outing. Those experiences are part of the background to Lincoln's current place in the Championship.
Tony Mowbray, who started his playing career with Middlesbrough and is in his second spell managing Blackburn, returned to Rovers in June after overcoming bowel cancer and previously led them to promotion from League One in 2017-18. A 2-2 draw at Wolves last Friday provided a positive start and Blackburn will host Middlesbrough on Saturday (15:00 BST). "Everybody's got us relegated - but that's very good motivation for the team," said Mowbray after the draw at Molineux.
Bromley, managed by Andy Woodman, have progressed from the National League South to League One and will play Cambridge United at home on Saturday (15:00 BST) after opening with a 1-0 win at Barnsley last weekend. Leicester City, by contrast, have suffered successive relegations and are now under Russell Martin; they face Burton Albion at the King Power Stadium (15:00 BST), with Burton led by Gary Bowyer for that trip.
Rotherham United, who appointed Steve McClaren as their new head of football three weeks after their descent into League Two, only installed head coach Alex Bruce six weeks later and lost their opening game 2-1 to Cheltenham Town. That defeat extended a run that means Rotherham have won only two of their past 19 league games. York City, whose Josh Stones scored a last-second equaliser at Rochdale to secure the National League title on the final day of last season, beat Bristol Rovers last weekend and have replaced Stuart Maynard with Scott Lindsey barely a week before their first competitive fixture; six years ago York were in the National League North while Rotherham were in the Championship.
BBC Sport will provide live text coverage of all the weekend's EFL action, which includes Saturday fixtures such as West Ham v Charlton (15:00 BST), Lincoln v Portsmouth (12:30 BST), Blackburn v Middlesbrough (15:00 BST), Leicester v Burton (15:00 BST), Bromley v Cambridge United (15:00 BST) and the Rotherham v York City fixture.
