Championship Review – Matchday five

Swansea City continued their fine start to the season with a fine 3-0 win over Birmingham City at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Second half strikes from Kyle Naughton, Bersant Celina and Borja Baston (penalty) secured the points for the Swans, who returned to second place and are behind leaders Leeds United by virtue of goal difference.

Marcelo Bielsa’s also ran out 3-0 winners, piling more misery onto bottom of the table Stoke City at the Bet 365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Victory

After back-to-back draws, Charlton Athletic returned to winning ways by edging past Brentford at the Valley while Bristol City are up to fourth after beating Hull City by three goals to one at the KCOM Stadium.

The Robins are one of just five teams in the division to have not played in the Premier League, and have not been in the top flight since 1980 but can be backed at 5/1 to secure promotion this time around.

Fulham remain in the play-offs despite being beaten 2-1 by Nottingham Forest – Lewis Grabban the hero with both of the Reds’ goals, his third and fourth of the campaign.

Fall

Preston North End are into the top six after they won 2-1 at home against Sheffield Wednesday, who have lost back-to-back games on the road for the first time since December.

The weekend’s action kicked off at Pride Park, where two of the teams expected to be pushing for promotion this term played out a 1-1 draw.

It was a tale of two penalties, with Martin Waghorn putting the Rams ahead from the spot on six minutes, with Kenneth Zohore leveling six minutes from time.

It was also one-a-piece at the Riverside Stadium, where Middlesbrough and Millwall shared the spoils while after their poor start, Reading extended their unbeaten run to four games in all competitions with a 2-0 triumph at Huddersfield Town.

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The result propelled the Royals into the top half, though managerless Town are stuck in twenty-third, only off the bottom on goal difference.

Queens Park Rangers bounced back from back-to-back defeats with a come from behind win over Wigan Athletic – the Latics slipping into the relegation zone with that defeat.

Blackburn Rovers meeting with Cardiff City at Ewood Park finished goalless, while Luton Town got their first league win of the campaign in some style, beating Barnsley at Oakwell by three goals to one.

The damage was done in the first thirty-one minutes, by which time the Hatters were three goals to the good, with Mallik Wilks seventy-second minute strike proving to be nothing more than a consolation for the Tykes.