Category: Championship League

• Leaders earn 2-1 home win, Boro beat Wolves 1-0

• Burnley rout Watford; Birmingham edge West Brom

Vítor Matos praised his Swansea side for overcoming a lack of training as they strengthened their position at the top of the Championship with a 2-1 comeback win over Norwich. Second-half goals from Moussa Yeo and the Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah wiped out Jacob Wright’s strike just before the half-hour mark.

It was the third time Swansea had come from behind this season to win, and, after West Ham’s draw the previous night, it gave them top spot in the table. Idah, though, limped out of the action and could be a doubt for Tuesday’s visit to Millwall.

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The QPR goalkeeper Pierce Charles made a stunning double save from a Jarrod Bowen penalty in stoppage time to secure a 1-1 draw at West Ham. The 21-year-old, who kept four clean sheets and saved a penalty for Northern Ireland over the international break, pulled off more heroics to deny the Hammers top spot in the Championship.

Bowen had already equalised for West Ham, cancelling out a hugely controversial first-half penalty from Nicolas Madsen. But the Hammers captain saw his spot-kick saved and Charles then somehow pushed the rebound from Arne Engels on to the crossbar.

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Verdict has been a long time coming and the Southampton head coach has recaptured hearts and minds at St Mary’s

“Hi Tonda, are you a cheat?” That simple, succinct, question cut to the heart of a matter that has vexed the Football Association all summer. It was posed by the Northern Echo’s Dominic Shaw after Southampton overcame Middlesbrough in the second leg of May’s Championship playoff semi‑final and proved the cue for Tonda Eckert to walk out of his press conference at St Mary’s.

Although Southampton’s manager subsequently admitted to authorising spying on opponents, England’s football authorities struggled to decide what punishment best fitted an act some regard as heinous but which others fail to take seriously. Now, in autumn, we finally have an FA verdict, with Eckert given a six-week ban suspended until the end of the 2027-28 season, a £28,000 fine and a reprimand.

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The Metropolitan police have been granted special powers to tackle violence as the south and east London teams meet again on Saturday after 14 years

Absence has not made the heart grow fonder. Millwall and West Ham meet for the first time in 14 years on Saturday, but it is not going to be a joyous reunion at the Den. The atmosphere will be ferocious and the main hope is that the focus is on the football rather than any nonsense away from the pitch.

These two have plenty of previous, even though they so rarely play each other. The most glaring example is the shocking disorder inside and outside Upton Park when Millwall lost in the second round of the League Cup at West Ham’s old ground in August 2009. A 44-year-old man was stabbed in the chest as trouble raged outside and riot police struggled to maintain order during the game, with play suspended briefly when home supporters invaded the pitch after one West Ham goal.

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• Added-time winner from Phillips sinks Norwich

• Saints hit four; Burnley beaten 3-1 at Swansea

Ashley Phillips was the unlikely late matchwinner as Middlesbrough edged a seven-goal thriller, beating Norwich 4-3 at Riverside Stadium.

Norwich looking for a third win on the bounce, made the perfect start with 50 seconds on the clock when striker Mohamed Touré hammered in, but within seven minutes Boro had gone ahead. Sebastian Berhalter powered in his first Middlesbrough goal to level, before winger Amario Cozier-Duberry had the Riverside crowd bouncing with a tidy finish.

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West Ham secured their fourth league win in a row as they returned to the top of the Championship with a thumping 6-0 win over Wrexham at the London Stadium. It was a marvellous display of attacking football from Nuno Espírito Santo’s side, who swept to victory with room to spare and six different scorers.

Jarrod Bowen got the ball rolling after 28 minutes, Joël Piroe made it two before the break, then Konstantinos Mavropanos, Taty Castellanos, Mohamadou Kanté and Manor Solomon all scored in the second half as the Welsh side were dealt a hiding. The performance was further evidence the Hammers are finding their feet in the second tier after failing to win any of their first three games following Premier League relegation.

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• England forward scores twice in 3-2 victory

• Southampton 3-1 Swansea; Watford 2-1 Preston

Captain Jarrod Bowen scored twice as West Ham’s 3-2 win over Bolton took them top of the Championship on goal difference. The England international opened the scoring after 13 minutes and earned his side a first win at Bolton for 31 years with his second 13 minutes from time.

In between, Wanderers, beaten for a fourth successive outing, equalised through midfielder Ethan Erhahon’s maiden goal for the club and they looked on course for a ninth successive league victory over the Hammers when Ruben Rodrigues converted a 27th-minute penalty. Instead, Konstantinos Mavropanos levelled with a 31st-minute header and Bowen completed the comeback.

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• Vardy a free agent after departing Cremonese

• Plans to play on despite burgeoning media career

Jamie Vardy has returned to English football after signing for Burnley in the Championship as a free agent.

Vardy, who will be 40 in January, has signed a contract until the end of the season, having spent last season at Cremonese in Italy. A return to Leicester, where he spent 13 years and was a Premier League champion in 2016 and an FA Cup winner in 2021, was mooted in the summer, only for Vardy to rule out a reunion.

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• Burnley 1-2 Bristol City, West Ham 3-0 Derby

• Middlesbrough defeat QPR, Norwich and West Brom win

Nicky Hayen has told his under-fire Burnley players they need to dig deep to come through “a really difficult situation” after a 2-1 defeat at home by Bristol City left them rock bottom of the Championship.

The Turf Moor crowd vented their anger – most vehemently towards the owner, Alan Pace – after Aaron Ramsey’s 56th-minute opener for the Clarets was overturned by an 82nd-minute header from Rob Dickie and a brilliant stoppage-time strike from City substitute Yu Hirakawa.

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Erling Haaland scored his 300th club goal while Crystal Palace’s left wing-backs grabbed the glory at Craven Cottage

Iliman Ndiaye starts for City after joining from Everton in the week. Phil Foden drops out and will be joined on the bench by City’s other big signing, Enzo Fernandez.

Coventry bring in Ethan Pinnock and Frank Onyeka for Caleb Yirenki and Loum Tchaouna.

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From Maynor Figueroa’s son Keyrol at Wigan to Spurs’s Irish forward Melia at Lincoln and Stockport keeper Whatmuff, we look at nine to keep an eye on

Goalkeepers are supposed to peak at about 30, which makes one wonder how good the 18-year-old Whatmuff will be at that point. He spent last season playing professionally, earning promotion from the National League with Rochdale under the tutelage of Jimmy McNulty. When the manager jumped two divisions to Stockport, Whatmuff was the first person he wanted to take with him. City showed how highly they think of Whatmuff by incorporating him within their pre-season tour travelling party, where he worked closely with Gianluigi Donnarumma. Whatmuff is extremely composed with the ball at his feet, unfazed by pressure and his surroundings. Those who have worked with him are confident he will spend his career in the Premier League and win full international honours.

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• Charlton beat Preston to maintain 100% record

• Millwall take lead at St Mary’s but Southampton win 5-1

Charlton moved to the top of the table with a 1-0 victory against struggling Preston. Karlan Grant’s first goal for Charlton since rejoining on a free transfer from West Brom ensured that the south Londoners are the only side in the division still boasting a 100% record.

It is the first time that Charlton have won their opening three matches in the second tier since the 1992-93 campaign.

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West Brom’s head coach, James Morrison, insisted his side must “stay humble” after Isaac Price inspired them to a 3-1 comeback win against promotion favourites Burnley in the Championship at the Hawthorns. The Northern Ireland international scored twice in the second half after setting up Harry Whitwell’s equaliser to cancel out Callum Styles’s early own goal.

“I felt it was a top performance. I enjoyed it at times for the intensity with the lads willing to run for each other,” Morrison said. “We did the basics really well – we won tackles, and when we lost the ball, we ran back and when the opportunities were given to us, we took advantage.

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• Wolves sink teeth into Preston; Blackburn stun Boro

• Southampton’s late show leaves Stoke pointless

Charlton maintained their perfect start to the Championship season with a 2-1 victory at West Ham in a pulsating London derby to pile more pressure on the Hammers manager, Nuno Espírito Santo.

Lloyd Jones and Tyreece Campbell put Charlton 2-0 ahead before Joel Piroe, signed on loan from Leeds, marked his first appearance for the home side with a goal that set up a frantic finish. Taty Castellanos then missed a stoppage-time penalty for West Ham that would have salvaged a point.

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Rubin Colwill scored a ferocious equaliser with almost the final kick of the match to earn Cardiff a 1-1 Championship draw with Wrexham.

Wrexham appeared to have the Welsh derby bragging rights sewn up as the contest ticked into the eighth minute of added time at Cardiff City Stadium.

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