Championship Preview – Matchday Six

First meets second in the Championship this Friday evening as Leeds United take on Middlesbrough at Elland Road.

The two sides both have four wins and a draw from their opening five league fixtures with Marcelo Bielsa’s men leading the pack on goal difference having scored an impressive fourteen times already.

Leeds are yet to drop points in front of their own fans this term while Boro are in search of a fifth consecutive league triumph.

With four goals in his last four league outings Kemar Roofe is on fire, and he can be backed at a price of 12/1 to finish the season as the division’s top scorer.

Bolton lost in the league for the first time this season last time out but will be looking to bounce back against a Preston North End side languishing in twentieth place.

Confidence

Alex Neil’s side will however be in confident mood after securing a 2-0 win against Leeds in the EFL Cup, the same Leeds side that incidentally knocked out Bolton in the first round of that competition.

Fourth place Aston Villa travel to seventh place Sheffield United, with both sides tied on nine points while two other sides to have the same return at this point – Blackburn Rovers and Derby County travel to Bristol City and Hull City respectively.

Brentford welcome unbeaten Nottingham Forest to Griffin Park with the visitors looking for only their second league triumph of the season, having drawn four of their five matches.

They did secure an impressive scalp midweek by beating Premier League Newcastle United on Wednesday evening.

Relief

Stoke City also knocked out top flight opposition in the shape of Huddersfield Town making it back-to-back wins for Gary Rowett following a tough start to life with the Potters.

They host one of the other sides to be relegated from the Premier League last term – West Bromwich Albion while the third of the teams to have dropped back to the second tier- Swansea City travel to Millwall in Saturday’s late kick-off.

Wigan Athletic host Rotherham United just two-and-a-half weeks after the pair met at the New York Stadium – the Millers running out 3-1 winners on that occasion only to be knocked out of the competition by Everton on Wednesday.

Scrap

Twenty-first meets twenty-second at St Andrews, with Birmingham City above Queens Park Rangers on goal difference while second-from-bottom Reading host Sheffield Wednesday.

Finally, while it may the Old Firm Derby north of the border on Sunday, south of the border it’s the Old Farm Derby with Ipswich Town taking on Norwich City.

The Tractor Boys have won just two of their last sixteen Championship fixtures and have taken just two points so far this season with their rivals only two points better off in eighteenth place.