(UPDATED) EFL Championship – Week 16 Slate

December 9, 2018December 6, 2018 by Robert

Championship Week 16 Fixtures/Results

The results from last week, when each club played twice, didn’t have the impact on the Power Rankings I was expecting, but it was still an exciting week nonetheless. This week doesn’t appear to be much different, with about half of the matches being hosted by a lower-ranked club this week. With the Championship being deemed the best league in England, nearly any team can find success week to week (sorry Ipswich Town supporters).

Per usual, the number in parenthesis before each club is where they fell on our Week 16 Power Rankings. Home clubs are listed first. We’ll keep this updated throughout the weekend, with winning indicated in bold, while matches that end in draws will have their clubs italicized.

Friday, 7 December 2018

8:00pm GMT/3:45pm EST
(3) West Bromwich Albion 2-2 (5) Aston Villa **MATCH OF THE WEEK**

(UPDATED) EFL Championship – Week 14 Slate

November 25, 2018November 20, 2018 by Robert

After last weekend’s international break, the Championship is back in action this weekend for your Thanksgiving (at least in the U.S.) enjoyment. A few clubs entered the break on extended hot streaks, so it was probably hard for them to sit for a week and let the momentum lapse a bit, but rest is also important in such a loaded schedule. Prior to the break, the clubs had played five matches over the course of three weeks in league play alone, with a handful of clubs playing an additional Carabao Cup match as well. Next week, everyone will be playing twice yet again, so maybe the break was for the best after all.

As always, the number in parenthesis before each team represents their current rank in our weekly Power Rankings. As the matches progress, we will update this list with results, with winning teams in bold and drawn teams in italics.

Friday, 23 November 2018
7:45pm GMT/2:45pm EST
(24) Ipswich Town 1-2 (3) West Bromwich Albion

(UPDATED) EFL Championship – Week 11 Slate

November 16, 2018October 23, 2018 by Robert

The Championship clubs find themselves playing two again this week, and if last weekend is any indication, we could see a lot of upsets in the results. As always, the number in parenthesis before each team in their current spot in the Weekly Power Rankings. Home teams are listed first, and winners will be indicated in bold. In the event of a draw, both teams will be placed in italics.

Tuesday, 23 October 2018
7:45pm BST/2:45pm EST
(15) Birmingham City 2-1 (19) Reading
(1) Middlesbrough 0-0 (21) Rotherham United
(22) Millwall 2-1 (8) Wigan Athletic
(4) Norwich City 2-1 (11) Aston Villa
(18) Queens Park Rangers 3-0 (12) Sheffield Wednesday
(3) Sheffield United 1-1 (16) Stoke City
(13) Swansea City 3-1 (10) Blackburn Rovers

Wednesday, 24 October 2018
7:45pm BST/2:45 EST
(14) Bristol City 1-0 (23) Hull City
(6) Leeds United 2-0 (24) Ipswich Town
(20) Preston North End 4-3 (7) Brentford
8:00pm BST/3:00pm EST
(17) Bolton Wanderers 0-3 (9) Nottingham Forest
(5) West Bromwich Albion 1-4 (2) Derby County

EFL Championship – Week 5 Power Rankings

November 18, 2018August 27, 2018 by Robert

Now that all the Championship teams have played their fifth game, we are a little over 10% of the way through the seasons. In this version of the Power Rankings, I’m going to include a comparison to where the team currently sits in the league table. The change column will represent the movement from where they were in my mid-week update to last week’s Power Rankings.:
Note: Records presented as W-D-L

Rank	Team	Record	Last Week	Change	Table Pos
1	Leeds United	4-1-0	1	—	1
2	Middlesbrough	4-1-0	3	1↑	2
3	Sheffield United	3-0-2	7	4↑	7
4	Brentford	2-2-1	2	2↓	8
5	Bolton Wanderers	3-1-1	6	1↑	3
6	Derby County	3-0-2	10	4↑	6
7	West Bromwich Albion	2-1-2	4	3↓	11
8	Aston Villa	2-3-0	8	—	4
9	Swansea City	2-2-1	5	4↓	10
10	Wigan Athletic	2-1-2	9	1↓	12
11	Nottingham Forest	1-4-0	11	—	13
12	Sheffield Wednesday	2-1-2	15	3↑	14
13	Blackburn Rovers	2-3-0	16	3↑	5
14	Bristol City	2-2-1	20	6↑	9
15	Norwich City	1-1-3	14	1↓	18
16	Preston North End	1-1-3	12	4↓	20
17	Rotherham United	2-0-3	21	4↑	15
18	Stoke City	1-2-2	17	1↓	17
19	Millwall	1-2-2	13	6↓	16
20	Hull City	1-1-3	21	1↑	19
21	Queens Park Rangers	1-0-4	24	3↑	22
22	Birmingham City	0-3-2	22	—	21
23	Reading	0-2-3	23	—	23
24	Ipswich Town	0-2-3	24	6↓	24

EFL Championship – Week 4 Power Rankings

November 18, 2018August 20, 2018 by Robert

After a third week that saw some eye opening results – it’s not often you see a team concede seven goals to a team within their same league – here is how I see the teams heading into the slate of games scheduled for this week. Note: Records presented as W-D-L Rank Team Record Last … Read moreEFL Championship – Week 4 Power Rankings

EFL Championship Primer: 2018-2019 Season – Part 2

November 18, 2018August 1, 2018 by Robert

Note: This is the second of four posts about the 24 teams competing in the Championship, which is Tier 2 of English Association football. Teams are presented in alphabetical order with a bit of their history and some expectations for this season. You can read Part 1 here.

Derby County

Nickname: The Rams
Founded: 1884
Location: Derby
Team Colors: Black / White
Kit Manufacturer: Umbro
Kit Sponsor: 32Red
Ground: Pride Park Stadium (1997-Present)
Capacity: 33,600
Manager: Frank Lampard (since 2018)
Website: www.dcfc.co.uk
2017-18 Season: 6th of 24 in Championship
Seasons in Premier League: Seven, last in 2007-2008
The Rams locked themselves into a playoff spot last season in Week 44 with against second-place finisher Cardiff City, and held on with a win and a draw in their final two games, finishing two points ahead of seventh-place Preston North End, who remained out of the playoff despite their own unbeaten string to end the season. With the departure of three clubs to the Premier League via promotion, I don’t see any reason why Derby County can’t yet again compete for promotion this season, though they will probably want to be a bit more consistent over the course of the season instead of holding off until the end.
This will be the Rams 51st overall season at Tier 2, with four championships to boot. But I imagine they want to return to the Premier League sooner rather than later, if only to try and get the “one-and-done” taste out of their mouth following their most recent go of it in 2007-2008, a season in which they finished in 20th place and were the second club in Tier 1 history to secure relegation in March. Their only other time in the Premier League was a six season run from 1996-2002, but they have spent more total seasons at Tier 1 – 65 seasons with an average finish of 10th. They currently have 13-to-8 odds of finishing in the top 6, so maybe they’ll be spending 2019-2020 back in the Premiership.