At a time when some of the Premier League’s biggest names are dotted across the world, with Arsenal and Newcastle opting for warm-weather training camps in the Middle East while other players, often towing obscenely big graphite suitcases, have escaped for exotic destinations such as the Bahamas and the Maldives, the English Football League rolls on.
Substitute Jacob Brown (pictured, centre) struck a late equaliser to earn Stoke a 1-1 draw at fellow play-off hopefuls Huddersfield after Josh Koroma had fired the hosts ahead in the first half.
Koroma ended a 19-game run without a Championship goal in the 27th minute when his deflected shot looped over Stoke keeper Jack Bonham. The forward was arguably lucky to still be on the pitch following a high tackle on Taylor Harwood-Bellis moments earlier. Danny Ward and Lewis O'Brien both went close as the hosts had the better of the first half.
Carlos Corberan's sixth-placed side failed to build on their advantage in a surprisingly lacklustre second period. Stoke, who saw Tyreese Campbell's penalty appeal waved away in the first half, grew into the game and levelled with 12 minutes to go.
Jaden Philogene-Bidace pounced on Ollie Turton's poor clearance but his shot struck the post. Campbell's rebound was blocked but Brown was on hand to fire into the top corner from the edge of the area. The draw leaves Michael O'Neill's side in 10th, six points behind the Terriers.
"The key decisions in the game all went against us," said O'Neill after the match. "It was clearly a red card for Koroma ... it was also a clear penalty on Tyrese. The players' attitude to being hard done by was terrific. We deserved at least a point if not more."
Bernardo Silva, binoculars at the ready, has been spotting elephants and leopards on a safari in Sri Lanka and the Brentford head coach, Thomas Frank, is using the break to zigzag down ski slopes in Switzerland. But for the Championship it is full steam ahead, the division ready to savour its moment in the sun.
Just because there is no top-flight football this weekend does not mean there is nothing worth watching. Far from it, given that for the next generation of players the Championship represents a Premier League waiting room of sorts. For many, the secret is already out.
Brentford have seen several bids rejected for the exciting Nottingham Forest winger Brennan Johnson and the Blackburn striker Ben Brereton Díaz’s rise has equally not gone unnoticed (he scored again for Chile on Friday and remains on international duty). Among those who appear capable of playing at a higher level are the Bristol City forward Antoine Semenyo, the Hull centre-back Jacob Greaves, the Huddersfield pair Sorba Thomas and Lewis O’Brien and Forest’s on-loan Middlesbrough full-back Djed Spence, released by Fulham in 2018. Luke Southwood and Nathan Baxter are goalkeepers grasping their first taste of the second tier at Reading and Hull respectively, the latter on loan from Chelsea.
Millions of fans do not need convincing, with combined attendances in the second tier totalling more than 5.1 million in 2021- 22 – the biggest crowd, 29,832, coming at Middlesbrough v Forest on Boxing Day. But the Premier League is where almost all 24 Championship sides pine to be and, such is the division’s unpredictability, more than half will still fancy their chances of claiming one of the three promotion places.
If anything typifies the erratic nature of it all, it was the confirmation this week that Hull’s new owner, Acun Ilicali, who revealed his £30m takeover was happening while live on television presenting a Turkish adaptation of The Voice, had sacked Grant McCann despite successive victories over Blackburn and Bournemouth, who are second and third respectively. The former Rangers striker Shota Arveladze, whose last job was in Uzbekistan with Pakhtakor Tashkent, is the new manager.
On Saturday Blackburn, this season’s surprise package under the wily Tony Mowbray, visit a creaking Kenilworth Road, home to Luton for the past 117 years. Mowbray is the definition of level-headed but even he let his guard down on Monday, punching the air after they edged out Boro, one of his former clubs. More than 1,000 away fans will clink through the turnstiles, via a portal nestled among terraced houses on Oak Road, making the pilgrimage up a steel stairwell that overlooks back gardens and washing lines before they get their first glimpse of the pitch. For Blackburn, it marks game 31 of a marathon season but others have it tougher, with Wigan and Cambridge of League One, and Hartlepool of League Two, in line to play at least 59 games each owing to their progress in the FA Cup and EFL Trophy.
The Championship pacemakers are a yo-yoing and free-scoring Fulham who, given the ease with which they have dispatched opponents of late (they have scored 22 goals across their past four matches and recorded two 7-0 away wins in three months), could be forgiven for already thinking about how to ensure they are at least the 17th-best team in England next season. Aleksandar Mitrovic is Fulham’s ringleader (he has scored 30 goals in 31 games for club and country this season) but others, including Harry Wilson and the Lisbon-born teenager Fabio Carvalho, who has contributed seven of Fulham’s 73 league goals from attacking midfield, have also flourished.
Carvalho, who joined Fulham from Balham amid interest from Chelsea and Manchester United eight years ago, is the kind of talent worth tuning in for and another example of a player who looks set to count the Championship as a key rung on the ladder to a fine career. Last season Ivan Toney and Michael Olise excelled for Brentford and Reading respectively, and have since thrived in the top flight, the latter for Crystal Palace. Jarrod Bowen, who started his career at Hereford United, joined West Ham from Hull midway through the 2019-20 season, while Ollie Watkins and Eberechi Eze earned moves to Aston Villa and Palace for the following campaign.
All four midfielders who ended up in the last England squad after withdrawals and replacements – Conor Gallagher, Jude Bellingham, Emile Smith Rowe and Kalvin Phillips – played in the Championship within the past two years and in all 16 earned their stripes at EFL clubs, including Reece James, who starred on loan at Wigan from Chelsea. Gallagher made his league debut for Charlton in the Championship before joining Swansea and Smith Rowe spent the second half of the 2019-20 campaign at Huddersfield. Phillips had six seasons in the second tier with Leeds, playing in a variety of positions for a mixture of managers.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fulham | 27 | 48 | 57 |
| 2 | Blackburn | 28 | 15 | 52 |
| 3 | AFC Bournemouth | 27 | 19 | 49 |
| 4 | QPR | 27 | 9 | 48 |
| 5 | West Brom | 28 | 12 | 45 |
| 6 | Huddersfield | 28 | 4 | 44 |
| 7 | Nottm Forest | 28 | 9 | 43 |
| 8 | Middlesbrough | 27 | 5 | 42 |
| 9 | Coventry | 26 | 5 | 40 |
| 10 | Luton | 26 | 6 | 38 |
| 11 | Stoke | 27 | 3 | 38 |
| 12 | Sheff Utd | 25 | 1 | 36 |
| 13 | Preston North End | 27 | -2 | 36 |
| 14 | Blackpool | 27 | -4 | 36 |
| 15 | Millwall | 26 | -2 | 33 |
| 16 | Bristol City | 28 | -13 | 33 |
| 17 | Swansea | 25 | -4 | 32 |
| 18 | Birmingham | 28 | -12 | 32 |
| 19 | Hull | 27 | -8 | 29 |
| 20 | Cardiff | 26 | -19 | 23 |
| 21 | Reading | 27 | -18 | 22 |
| 22 | Peterborough | 26 | -30 | 20 |
| 23 | Derby | 27 | 0 | 14 |
| 24 | Barnsley | 26 | -24 | 14 |
Those journeys provide obvious inspiration but for some teams expectations have had to be realigned and any thoughts of personal accolades put on the back burner. Surviving the season would represent success for a Derby side weighed down by a 21-point deduction and the threat of liquidation amid protracted takeover talks, while Reading are in the midst of a worrying tailspin that has left them teetering above the relegation zone, with six points deducted, and Barnsley, bottom and winless in the league since 3 November, look doomed.
The race for the play-offs, as ever, is most intriguing, with several teams, including Coventry and Sheffield United, armed with games in hand. Seventh-placed Forest are the flavour of the month, though – four straight wins in January, including against Arsenal in the FA Cup, showcased their credentials under Steve Cooper, a young coach with a budding reputation. On Sunday his side visit struggling Cardiff, where the former Swansea manager is guaranteed a cold reception, despite his father, Keith, a former referee, being a Cardiff fan at heart. Forest represent formidable opponents and have lost only once on the road since 21 August, when they were bottom of the pile. In the Championship it is wise to expect the unexpected.
