Buzzin Championship Football

An away defeat at a team that you’ve not lost to for over 50 years followed by a point against one of last season’s playoff teams might not sound like a cause for concern but that’s exactly what has happened to Burnley over the last week. Losing at Huddersfield last Saturday loosened their grip on top spot but the combination of results during the week meant that the Clarets drop out of the top two for the first time since mid September.

(Update: thanks to Colin Sheard who pointed out that I got those stats wrong. Burnley lost both games to Huddersfield last season. What I think I meant was that between February 1956 and October 2002 Huddersfield failed to win any of their nine home games in all competitions against Burnley. Apologies for the error.)

By now we’re all used to the cliches about how unpredictable the Championship is, but there’s one aspect about the second tier that remains constant – the apparent inability of some teams to take full advantage of the poor form of their rivals. QPR and Leicester were both guilty of that: Rangers lost at Doncaster on Tuesday night and last weekend Sheffield Wednesday beat Leicester. Whatever happens this weekend, the top three cannot be overtaken…we may have to wait a couple of weeks for that.

The bottom of the table is just as close although it seems that the penny has finally dropped for Yeovil, who earned maximum points from two games after beatinag Watford and Blackpool without conceding a goal. The Yorkshire clubs who sacked their managers also did well: Barnsley unexpectedly – but deservedly – won at Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday responded immediately to Dave Jones’ departure with a victory over Leicester. With only six points between the bottom ten clubs, a seven game winless streak at this point in the season should be worrying – and that’s exactly the situation Bournemouth find themselves in. Since beating Millwall at the start of October, they’ve won three points from a possible 21 and have dropped eleven places whilst doing so.

For the first time for a while, all twelve games are on Saturday and the programme starts with the game of the week – even more unusually, it’s televised.

Since Steve McLaren replaced Nigel Clough at the end of September, Derby County have only failed to win three of their nine league games and have lost only once. However, their lunchtime kick off with Blackpool at Pride Park is a test in more ways than one: The Rams have lost all four games against the other current playoff or promotion contenders. most recently at QPR at the start of November. Blackpool haven’t played any of the teams around them away from home and I can’t imagine Paul Ince would have been best pleased with three red cards at Huish Park on Tuesday night after having just completed a touchline ban for losing his rag with a bottle of water and belting it into the crowd. To put it simply, the Tangerines have a discipline problem.

Amongst the games worth keeping an eye on while you’re trying to convince your other half that you’re not eyeing up a new telly during Christmas shopping Yeovil will be attempting to win three games in a row for the first time at this level when Charlton travel to Somerst. The Glovers have only beaten Charlton once in eight meetings in all competitions, but that’s not dissimilar to the stat I mentioned in the last post about Yeovil’s record against Blackpool. With only two wins in their last ten games (they’ve lost four of their last five), the Addicks are currently only two points away from the relegation zone and are making my pre-season prediction for them look a bit over optimistic to say the least.

In two clashes between promotion contenders and the struggling clubs, Burnley entertain Barnsley in what looks like a straightforward game – the Tykes have only won three of their twelve trips to Turf Moor since the end of World War II haven’t lost to a team in the bottom half of the table so far this season. Before Tuesday night’s victory, Barnsley had lost seven of their eight aways this season and had’t won on the road since February. Burnley may be having a bit of a wobble at the moment, but haven’t gone more than two games without a home win since the spring of 2011.

I mentioned Bournemouth’s poor run earlier and that may continue at the Madejski Stadium: the Cherries haven’t won at Reading since March 1986 and haven’t won on the road since the end of August. Victories over Charlton and Nottingham Forest ended Reading’s four game streak without a win and their only defeat to a side in the bottom half of the table came at Sheffield Wednesday at the start of last month.

I’ll be back next Friday, but before I go a quick reminder that the draw for Third Round of the FA Cup will be made on Sunday afternoon on ITV after the game between Tamworth and Bristol City. If you fancy having a look at the preview of the Second Round on Buzzin’ League One football, click here.